


Pearls in the Sea Like Stars in the Sky

by Shamaru



Category: The LEGO Movie (2014)
Genre: A dash of swearing, Additional Tags Added As Needed, M/M, Multi, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-02-13 12:33:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 34,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21494359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shamaru/pseuds/Shamaru
Summary: His dreams of being an astronaut brought to a halt and down on his luck, Benny travels to a tiny town at the edge of the sea and finds work as a pearl diver. His employers are nice as can be, their son is smoking hot, it's calm and peaceful, he's got a free room (close to his employers' smoking hot son), and his dive suit looks sort of like a spacesuit! It seems too good to be true.Then he gets swept into a secret world he was never meant to be part of and enters dangers he never would have expected to face.
Relationships: Bad Cop & Good Cop & Ma Cop & Pa Cop (The LEGO Movie), Bad Cop & Good Cop (The LEGO Movie), Benny & Good Cop (The LEGO Movie), Benny/Bad Cop (The LEGO Movie), Benny/Rex Dangervest
Comments: 23
Kudos: 62





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've had this written for about two months, but pushed it aside in order to focus on Not Quite Five Nights. Now that that's been finished up I'm back on writing this.
> 
> I may be a lot slower to update this one, I'll warn y'all now. Mostly because I know the general idea of where I want the story to go, but not entirely how to get there. I really am just making everything up as I go.

When Benny was young he’d dreamed of becoming an astronaut. He’d wanted to know what floating through space felt like and had spent countless hours sitting outside on clear nights just to gaze up at the twinkling lights far above. He’d learned the name and placement of every constellation, could point out various rocket parts and explain what they were and what they did in detail, and had constructed his very own miniature spaceship that could fly short distances. Becoming an astronaut was just a logical natural step in his life to him.

But sometimes dreams weren’t meant to come true.

He’d tried his hardest, struggling for years to meet his dreams, only to fall flat. His grades weren’t high enough. They said his mental stability wasn’t well enough. So what if he got too excited and lost track of what he was supposed to be doing sometimes? He’d come back to reality soon enough and could focus long enough to finish a simulated mission. But the Space Corps didn’t care that he _could_ finish so much as that he _couldn’t_ go too long without losing focus again. In the end he’d been rejected and his dreams had been crushed.

It had taken him a long time to come to terms with that. Never would he sail through the stars or land on planets far away. The thought crushed him, but he learned to press on.

However, holding down a real job proved impossible for him. He couldn’t focus on certain tasks, would space out and stop working entirely if a job grew boring, and his coworkers always complained that he was too loud or too excitable or that he never stopped talking. He just couldn’t help it. 

He’d been travelling when the answer finally came to him- literally smacking him in the face.

The paper had been blown along by a strong breeze, attaching itself to his face with an odd strength, and he’d flailed for a moment before snatching it off. He’d almost crumpled it without thought, but something on the front had caught his eye. It wasn’t anything that would stand out to most people, printed in barely there lettering, but it stood out to him like a sore thumb.

The paper, a clipping off a newsprint, held various help wanted ads. The one that had caught his attention was hand written, thus being harder to see, and simply had an address to one of the few buildings situated on the edge of the nearby beach. Above the address was simply written ‘Pearl Diving’. Benny had no idea what it was he could expect from something like that, but something in the back of his head told him that he just had to try for the job. 

The building was nothing like he thought it would be. It was just a house, not a business, and looked so unprofessional that anyone looking for an actual job there would most likely turn and walk off, thinking the whole thing a joke.

Benny smiled and walked straight up to the door.

He could hear the pleasant chime of the bell when pressed and a muffled shout of “Coming!”. When the door swung open a few seconds later he was surprised to find an elderly man standing there. A quick glance upward revealed an elderly woman standing just inside the doorway to what looked like a kitchen. The whole place at a glance looked like an ordinary couples’ home. That’s when the first doubt about the job posting actually settled in his mind.

“Yes?” the man in the doorway asked in a gentle voice. “Can I help you?”

Benny licked his lips nervously and quickly turned the newspaper clipping in his hands around to show the other. “I, uh, saw your ad in the paper? And wanted to know if, uh, you were... still hiring?”

The man glanced down at the paper, squinting, and reached up to pull a pair of reading glasses off of his head to place on his nose. He stared at the paper for a good long minute, making Benny worry again, before smiling and simply nodding his head once.

“Oh, yes. I’d almost forgotten about that.” He chuckled softly then turned to face the woman in the kitchen. “Oh, darlin’, someone’s finally answered our post.”

The elderly woman smiled and walked over to them, reaching out for a handshake which Benny gave gladly. She had a surprisingly strong grip for an older woman.

“So you’re lookin’ to become a pearl diver, dear?” She had the same sort of soft voice as the man and Benny found himself already liking the two. “Do you have any experience with this sort of thing?”

“Uh, no, ma’am. But I’m a fast learner!” he blurted. He cleared his throat, realizing that maybe he’d been a bit too loud. “I’d... I’d really like to give it a try if you’re willing to teach me.”

“We’re not lookin’ for experts now. A willing learner is all we’re askin’.” the man said. “Why don’t’cha come in and we’ll have a talk about it. See if you’d really like the job.”

Benny’s smile stretched further and he found himself nodding enthusiastically. “Yes, please!”

With smiles all around and light laughter from the elderly couple, the three entered the home and headed toward the kitchen. Benny was overwhelmed instantly by the smell of coffee and baked goods and he couldn’t stop the sigh that slipped past his lips.

“Help yourself, dear. Mugs are in the cupboard above the pot.” the woman told him.

After a minute of the three rounding up mugs and a few handfuls of cookies, the table was settled in. Benny sipped from his mug, the dark liquid turned almost white with the amount of creamer added, and finished off a single cookie before any talking began.

“First thing’s first.” the woman began. “Introductions.”

“Oh, gosh, I’m sorry! I should’ve started with my name!” Benny mentally scolded himself. “I’m Ben, but you can call me Benny!”

If the couple had been offended inviting a stranger into their home without so much as knowing his name, they didn’t show it. They simply nodded and smiled at him.

“Pleasure to meet you, Benny. Y’can just call us Ma and Pa if you’d like.” the man, Pa, said. “Our business has always been kept in the family and, if you start workin’ for us, you’ll be considered part of it.”

He didn’t know why, but that brought a small lump to his throat. Maybe because he hadn’t seen his own parents in so long. But that was a story for another time. He cleared his throat and took another sip from his coffee then flashed a toothy smile.

“That sounds awesome. I’ve never had a job that tight-knit.”

“Glad to hear you’re into the idea. Now, there is someone else you’ll need to meet just to make sure this whole thing goes smoothly.” Pa turned to his wife then. “Do y’know if he’s home at the moment, darlin’?”

“I don’t think...”

Suddenly something thumped further into the house. Benny swore he saw a brief flash of concern in the elderly couples’ faces, but they were back to smiling so fast he figured it had been a trick of the light. 

“He must be home if he’s thumping around like that.” Ma said. “Excuse me, dears.”

She rose from her seat, pushing it back under the table, and walked out of the kitchen. Benny listened to her footsteps fading down the hall and chewed slowly on another cookie while he waited.

“So...” he started slowly. “Who will I be meeting?”

Pa glanced up at him, halfway to bringing his coffee to his lips before the question came up. He lowered the mug again and glanced toward the doorway with a soft smile.

“Our son.” he answered. Then, in a sudden change of pace, his head turned back to Benny and the smile faded a bit. “He’s our pride an’ joy so, please, don’t call attention to anythin’ out of the ordinary.”

Benny had no time to ask what was meant by that for a moment later Ma came strolling back into the kitchen and took her spot at the table. Coming in right behind her was a man who instantly caught Benny’s full attention. 

He was much different than what Benny would have thought given the couple before him. A somewhat form fitted leather jacket couldn’t hide the fact that the man was a solid wall of muscle underneath. A black and white helmet perched on his head while a pair of mirrored glasses were pointed toward Benny, reflecting his raised brows and slightly widened eyes.

“Go on then.” the mystery man grumbled. “Have a good stare. They always do.”

His fingers tightened around the wheels in his hands, causing the grey leather gloves containing them to creak softly. It seemed like he was hesitating, but suddenly the distance between the two closed and Benny scooted back as a finger was shoved into his face.

“I always get that look from everyone who steps foot in this house. I’m sick of it.” His teeth were clenched in anger behind tightly closed lips and Benny could feel a barely contained rage radiating from the man.

“Whoa!” He threw his hands up in surrender and peered past the pointing finger to stare into the mirrored lenses. “Really not trying to offend anyone! Honest!”

He could see Ma and Pa from the corner of his eye watching in worry, but kept his focus trained on their live wire son. The finger was jerked back out of his face, but the muscular man didn’t seem all that impressed with him.

“Really now?” he practically sneered. “Then what was that look for?”

That was where Benny began to flounder. How could he explain to this man, who could easily beat him to a pulp, that he’d practically been ogling at those muscles? “Uh...”

A beat of silence passed between them before the man snorted. “Thought so.” He shook his head and moved back just far enough to give Benny a small space between him and the table. “Get out.”

Benny blinked stupidly, frowned, and continued to stay parked in his seat. “Wait, what?”

“Y’heard me. I said get out.” the man growled. “I refuse t’work with judging types.”

“Now just hold on there, bud! I’m not judging anyone!” Now Benny was growing frustrated. He suddenly understood where the man’s anger had come from and it began to stoke a small fire of his own. 

“Y’already had your chance t’prove otherwise.”

“Well, in my defense, most guys like you would attack me for my reasoning!”

That made the man pause. “Guys like me?” Then he was back to growling, pushing himself back into Benny’s space. “What the hell’s that supposed t’mean?”

A split second of hesitation.

Then Benny rose from his chair, clenching his fists at his sides, and leaned into the uniformed man’s space. He just prayed that he wouldn’t be leaving the house in pieces.

“Big, muscular, obviously arrow straight guys like you!” he snapped. “You guys don’t like being told that another man is staring at you like that because they think you’re smoking hot!”

Like a switch had been flicked, the anger on the man’s face was gone and replaced with wide-eyed surprise seen beneath the glasses as close as they were. His jaw dropped slightly and it was his turn to blink stupidly up at the other.

“Oh.” he finally got out in a very small voice. “Y’don’t... care about the chair?”

“Dude,” Benny sighed loudly, “I couldn’t care less that you’re in a wheelchair.”

He’d noticed it right away, having to be blind not to have seen it, but he didn’t see a reason to pay much attention to it. Besides being needed by the person parked in it he didn’t think it was all that special. Just a plain solid black wheelchair with white accents, one red rimmed wheel, and one blue rimmed wheel. He’d thought that the thick blanket covering the man’s legs had been more interesting than the chair. Black and white with little cartoon police cars all over it; childish, but extremely cute.

“Oh.” he repeated in that same tiny voice. “Well... Good then. Nice... Nice t’know.”

Another sigh and Benny flopped back into his seat. Cautiously he turned his attention back to the elderly couple and swallowed thickly. They were watching warily and his heart sunk at the thought that he’d just screwed up another chance at a job.

“Look,” he began, “I know a lot of people are uncomfortable with this kind of thing, so if you want me to leave...”

“No, no.” Ma was quick to pipe up. “We don’t mind, dear, honestly.”

“Not in the slightest.” Pa added.

Benny glanced between the three pairs of eyes watching him. Nervously he chewed on the inside of his lower lip. “So... we’re... cool?”

Three nodding heads answered the question. 

“Oh, okay. Awesome.” Benny forced a shaky smile to his lips. “Um... Now what though?”

The couple glanced at each other Then their son’s head turned to look back at them and he nodded once. All eyes were back on their guest after a brief wordless pause.

“You’re the first in a long while to actually come lookin’ for the job. An’ about the only who didn’t mind Bradley’s chair.” Pa told him.

Benny took a glance at their son, the uniformed man in the chair watching him silently with a lot less anger than he’d thought would be there after his confession. There actually wasn’t a trace of anger on the man’s face at all. Maybe he’d lucked out for once.

“So,” Pa’s voice caught his attention again, “I think, perhaps, we should start discussing the job. If you still want it, that is.”

The elderly couple were smiling at him gently and Bradley almost looked at ease nearby. Benny just couldn’t believe his luck. With a growing grin he sat himself up tall in his seat and clutched at his coffee mug just to keep from throwing his hands about in excitement.

“Oh my gosh, yes!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So for the sake of this fic I'm making up things about Benny's job as a pearl diver.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to get an update out at least once a week. I'm also terrible with deadlines so we'll see how long that lasts.

Benny’s entire form practically vibrated with excitement.

The diving suit he’d been given and was currently wearing looked so close to a space suit that he’d gotten lost daydreaming about being an astronaut again. The royal blue was more the color of the Space Corps’ bodyguard uniforms, but he didn’t mind. He rather liked the color blue anyway.

He honestly still couldn’t believe the lucky streak he’d had so far. In less than a day he’d gotten a job and the people he would be working with had been extraordinarily kind. Then, of course, there was the smoking hot man that happened to be his employers’ son. Even if said man didn’t swing in Benny’s direction and he didn’t have a chance, he could live with just getting to look at Bradley. Window shopping was always free after all.

The icing on the cake though was getting free room and board. When he’d been asked about where he was currently staying, he’d been unable to give a concrete answer. He’d been wandering for weeks now, kicked out of his last apartment due to being unable to keep up with rent. He had a little bit of money saved up from doing odd jobs, but being unable to hold down a steady job had done him no favors. The elderly couple hadn’t liked hearing about his homelessness and had offered him a room without hesitation, not taking no for an answer.

They’d set him up in what had looked like a guest bedroom just down the hall from their own room. It was only a small three bedroom house and they claimed that no one really visited anyway so they’d told him it was fine to take the room and to not worry so much when he’d started to worry. Bradley had a room right next to his parents’ and that was all the family needed. Or so they said. But they’d said not to worry, so he was trying not to.

The suit they’d given him shortly after he’d taken the job was helping. It was making it awfully hard to focus on the actual job at hand though. Not that there was a lot to do for the time being. Ma and Pa had gone out into town to run errands and Bradley had gone to his room with strict instruction not to bother him. That left Benny on his own to entertain himself.

Entertaining himself wasn’t as simple as it sounded though.

Besides the excitement that the suit brought, there wasn’t much else going on for him. So, even though he’d been told not to, he found himself wandering down the hall after taking off the suit and stopping outside the closer of the two bedrooms. A moment passed where he almost turned around, but boredom was winning out and he lifted a fist to knock gently. A scrabbling sound and a loud splash came from behind the door after the first strike of his knuckles followed by a barked shout.

Against better judgement and ignoring boundaries, Benny suddenly twisted the doorknob and threw the door open.

Bradley’s eyes were instantly on him, wide without the sunglasses and instantly full of rage. The blanket draped across his lap looked soaked and water dripped from the fabric onto the floor beneath his chair. In front of him was an open hole in the floor- a trapdoor leading to the ocean directly below the house.

“Benny!” Bradley snarled, white knuckling the wheels and looking two seconds from murdering him. “I told you not t’bother me!”

Benny raised his hands in surrender and took a step back. Then it hit him that he’d really messed up. “I’m sorry!” he near shouted. “I heard the splash and the yell and wasn’t sure what happened! You could’ve been hurt for all I knew!”

“Don’t you _ever_ barge into my room again, y’hear me?! Th’door’s shut for a reason!”

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry!”

For another agonizing few seconds Benny was sure the man would still suddenly start after him with intent to kill. Then he simply sucked in a long breath, closed his eyes, and released the air slowly while relaxing inch by inch.

“Good.” he finally sighed. “Now what d’y’want?”

Benny stared at him silently. He’d calmed so quickly from such a rage that it almost gave him emotional whiplash. 

“Uh...” He took a quick glance to the open hole in the floor, then to the soaked blanket clinging to Bradley’s legs, then to Bradley’s face. “It’s gonna sound stupid now, but I’m bored.”

Bradley blinked. Then he sighed loudly and slumped in his seat, raising a hand as if to run it through his hair only to tap against the helmet he still wore. “Y’came to pester me because you’re bored.” It wasn’t a question.

“Um... Yes...?” Benny smiled sheepishly and shrugged up his shoulders.

“Christ sakes...” Bradley groaned in frustration. “Just go outside an’ find somethin’ t’do! You’re a grown adult! ‘S long as y’can find th’house again y’can go anywhere!”

“Yeah, but...” Benny suddenly found the floor rather interesting. “I don’t know anything about this town... Maybe if I had some sort of guide with me?” Then he glanced up and pulled his best puppy-eyed expression which earned him a groan from Bradley.

“Ben.”

“You can call me Benny if you want.”

“Ben.” Bradley frowned at him. “I don’t go into town.”

It was Benny’s turn to frown now, though his held some curiosity behind it. “Why not?”

“You’re really goin’ to make me say it? Look at me, Ben.” He spread his arms wide to both sides then motioned downward toward his lap. “Much as I hate, and I really do mean _hate_, t’say it, it’s hard for me t’get around on my own out there.”

Benny hummed in thought. “So you can’t get around outside without help? That’s pretty easy, man. I can just push you.”

Bradley’s frown deepened after Benny spoke and red began to slowly blossom over his face. But Benny had seen that sort of color bloom on enough faces to know that it wasn’t embarrassment. Rather an explosion was growing. He couldn’t react in time to disarm the situation though.

“I don’t need you t’push me.” The words were said quietly, but with so much venom that Benny flinched. 

“Don’t get mad.” he tried. “I was just saying that I-”

“Y’think I can’t get around without help? I don’t need help. Not from anyone. Especially not nosy little fucks like _you_!” His voice had slowly risen as he spoke until he’d ended up shouting. He’d also wheeled himself within inches of the other and had to white knuckle grip his chair’s wheels to keep from lashing out.

Even though Benny stood taller than Bradley he felt so small in that instance.

“I didn’t...” He licked his lips nervously and glanced to the side to avoid looking into Bradley’s rage filled eyes. “I was just offering to help... I’ll just get out of your hair now. Sorry again for barging in.”

Quick as a flash he turned and sped off into the hall, not stopping even after hearing his name called. He headed straight for the front door and threw it open, jumping in surprise once he found himself face to face with Pa. The older man seemed just as surprised and had frozen with his hand halfway to the doorknob. 

“Goin’ out, Benny?” he asked with a smile. Benny tried to return it, but couldn’t quite get there.

“Yeah.” he answered. “Just need some fresh air.”

There must have been a telling on his face though because Ma, standing just to Pa’s left, suddenly stepped forward. “Is something the matter, dear?” she asked gently.

“No, no, nothing’s wrong. Just need some air. And to stretch my legs.” Benny wasn’t a good liar, but was glad that the issue wasn’t pressed. 

“Hold on, Ben.”

Benny almost groaned aloud after hearing Bradley behind him. He was so quiet coming up that Benny hadn’t heard him. But he refused to turn around.

“I’ll be back before dark!” he practically yelled before squishing up against the wall and quickly bypassing Ma and Pa. He knew it was a bit rude to do so, but he needed to get away from Bradley for a while. Let the man sort out his own emotional baggage. His name was called again, but he simply picked up the pace until he’d put a good distance between himself and the house.

The problem now was that he really had no idea where anything was in the town. It wasn’t like he’d been there for very long. Only a day or two before landing the diving job. 

The good news was that it was a smallish sized town. Surprising for one right on the edge of the ocean, but it didn’t seem to be a tourist attraction. Just a few rows of shops, some houses lined up in the distance, and a larger building he wasn’t sure about. Plus a long pier that stretched out toward the ocean a good ways.

Benny took to the street and began walking around the shops. There wasn’t anything fancy, but he didn’t need anything like that. Unsurprisingly many of the shops had to do with seafood or fishing supplies. A tiny cafe sat alone on a corner of the street and he decided to make that a stop. He was sure he had a few extra dollars to spare for a cup of coffee.

The smell of fresh brewed coffee hit him as soon as he stepped through the door and he took a deep breath, sighing happily. The place was painted a somewhat dark shade of green with cream accents and the few tables and chairs scattered around the floor were made from dark brown wood. Benny stepped up to the counter, also made of dark wood, and smiled at the barista. 

The man looked to be in his late twenties and Benny noted the dark bags under his eyes. His hair was the color of chocolate, parted neatly, and smoothed down flat. Stubble covered his face as if he’d recently shaved and was growing it back out. And judging by his name tag his name was Larry.

“What can I get you?” Larry asked in a bored voice. He didn’t smile either, but Benny wasn’t one to get offended over it.

“Just a small plain coffee, please. And some sugar packets too.” Benny answered. 

“Sure.” Larry punched a few buttons on his register and rang up the drink. “That’ll be three dollars even.”

Benny reached for his old wallet in his back pocket only to freeze when realization hit him. He hadn’t exactly been prepared when he’d left the house. “Aw man...” he groaned. “Sorry about this, but cancel that order. I left my wallet at the house.”

Larry didn’t seem to care. He simply shrugged and punched another button, wiping the order off the screen. “No problem. Have a good one.” 

Disappointed, Benny turned to leave only to end up running into someone who’d been standing too close behind him. Both he and the stranger jumped back from each other and Benny offered a quick apology.

“Don’t worry about it.” the stranger said with a wave of his hand. “Say, you’re new here aren’t you? I’m great with faces and I can’t remember ever seeing yours.”

“Oh, yeah I’m new. Sorta just moved in.” Benny answered.

“I thought so. Hey. Can I buy you a drink? Since you don’t have your wallet on hand and all. Wouldn’t want you to miss out. This is some great coffee they’ve got here.”

“Uh.” He glanced back at the barista who shrugged. “Sure, I guess?”

The stranger smiled wide at him and chuckled. “You don’t sound too sure.”

Benny wasn’t sure what to make of this guy. He wondered if it was just small town hospitality or something. “If you don’t mind.”

“Oh, I insist!” Then he turned to the counter and ordered what Benny had before plus a large black coffee for himself. “Care to sit and chat? I like getting to know everyone in town and new people are always a hot topic.”

The two sat at one of the tables near the counter and settled in while they waited for their drinks. Benny found the easy smile on the other’s face infectious and he relaxed against the back of his chair, smiling back at his companion.

“My name’s Sirius.” the other started. “I live with my brother on the other side of town. We own the local jewelry store here and specialize in pearls.”

“Really?” Benny asked. “I just got a job as a pearl diver.”

“No kidding?” Sirius’s smile stretched a bit. “I guess I’ll be doing business with you now and then. We buy straight from local divers. That way we get first pick of the best pearls. We’re known pretty much everywhere nowadays for having the best pearl jewelry. People love the stuff.”

Their drinks came soon, Larry walking out to deliver to them, and they continued chatting clear into the afternoon. Benny liked that they weren’t rushed out of the shop even long after emptying their cups. 

He learned that Sirius and his brother, Risky, were business men in every sense of the word right down to their last name. He’d laughed for a good minute over the fact and Sirius had rolled his eyes, saying that everyone found that funny. The brothers had been in the town for years hunting for perfect pearls and other treasures of the sea. Sirius had been adamant that there was something worth a fortune somewhere either in the town or in the waters off the coast and that it was he and his brother’s goal to find it. Benny had wished him luck with his hunt and had promised to keep an eye out for anything that could be treasure while out diving. Sirius’s eyes had gained an odd sparkle when he’d made the promise.

“I have a feeling we’d make great partners.” he’d told Benny. 

Then it began to grow dark outside and Benny had risen from his seat. “I’ve gotta get back before it gets too dark.” he explained. “So I guess I’ll see you around.”

Sirius nodded and stood from his seat as well, pushing it back under the table and walking with Benny to the door. “I look forward to it. Here’s hoping you land a great catch on your first dive!” He held the door open for the other and stepped out after. Then the two parted ways and Benny jogged down the road toward Ma and Pa’s.

He wasn’t quite looking forward to having to face Bradley again, but hopefully the hours he’d been gone had helped the man cool off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm being held hostage by two very excited fans wanting me to finish more chapters, help.
> 
> <strike>Also new chapters are payment toward a Welcome to Apocalypseburg set from one of said fans since they said I can have theirs but they won't let me pay for it akjcbakjbckjasbcj</strike>


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Switching perspectives for this chapter to follow Bradley.
> 
> Also it's only about half as long as the last chapters, but I couldn't figure out how to push it further and I've been stewing over it for two days. So it's just gonna be a short chapter. Next one will be longer again.

“Hold on, Ben.”

Realizing that he’d made an ass out of himself over nothing, Bradley had quickly followed after Benny. Seeing Ma and Pa in the doorway blocking the way out gave him some hope that he’d be able to apologize and put the mess behind them. Unfortunately, as was his luck, things weren’t willing to work out in his favor.

“I’ll be back before dark!” Benny practically yelled, completely ignoring the one calling him. Then he smashed himself flat to the wall and scooted past Bradley’s parents before anyone could stop him.

The three watched his retreating form until he’d gone clear down the road.

Then Bradley found himself pinned under his parents’ gaze.

“What was that all about now?” Pa asked. His voice remained kind, but there was a scolding hiding behind it somewhere. 

The younger man sighed and hung his head a bit. “I blew up again and chased him off...” he mumbled.

“Oh, Bradley...” Ma sighed. It wasn’t a mad sound at least. His parents understood. “How bad was it this time?”

“It was just a stupid comment. I took it out of hand and made a mountain out of a mole hill. Y’know me.” 

His parents exchanged a glance then, finally, stepped into the house and closed the door. Pa lay a hand on his son’s shoulder and gave a reassuring squeeze. Ma took his face in both hands and tilted his head back up, smiling gently down at him.

“If it wasn’t anything serious then a simple apology should do.” she told him. “Once Benny gets back just set things right.”

“Yes, mommy.” 

\---

He didn’t expect to have to wait the entire day for his chance to apologize. Benny had said that he didn’t know the town and Bradley had figured that that meant he wouldn’t be out long. Yet it was dark before Benny came walking through the door and he had to leave his room quickly to catch the other.

“Ben.” he called out, hoping not to be ignored. Thankfully the other stopped and looked over his shoulder at him, though he didn’t fully turn around. “Look... I just wanted to apologize for earlier. I shouldn’t’ve snapped at you like that. Y’didn’t do anything wrong.”

Benny’s eyes darted around the hall for a moment. Slowly he turned around and gave Bradley his full attention, a half smile tugging one corner of his lips upward. “It’s cool, dude. I’ve been through worse.”

“Doesn’t make it any better. I did wrong and I’m sorry.” Bradley said again.

“Okay.” Benny’s slight smile slipped a bit. “Okay, yeah. Uh... Apology accepted.”

A heavy silence settled between them and both began to fidget as they waited for the other to make a move.

“So...” Bradley broke the silence first. “Did y’have fun out in town?”

Benny seemed relieved to have a change in topic. His smile returned, full this time, and he nodded. “I actually spent the day at the coffee shop down the road. Didn’t have my wallet on me so someone bought me a drink and we talked.”

“Oh? And who’d you meet?” Bradley put on a smile of his own to keep the air between them relaxed. It dropped as soon as Benny spoke again though.

“The guy who owns the jewelry place. Sirius. Sirius Business.” 

Bradley tensed, but tried to hide his sudden nerves. “Be careful around him, Ben. Him and his brother. They’re both... not right in th’head.”

Now Benny frowned. Confused, not mad. “He seemed perfectly fine to me. Really nice guy. He said we’ll be doing business together in the future since I’m a pearl diver now.”

“Y’didn’t tell him y’were staying here, did you?” Suddenly Bradley was a ball of tension. His hands were tight against his chair’s wheels and he had to fight not to roll straight into Benny’s personal space. “Tell me y’didn’t.”

“I didn’t think he needed to know where I was staying, dude.” Benny confirmed. It did a lot to ease Bradley. “I only told him that I just got a job as a diver. Didn’t even tell him who I was working for.”

“Good. That’s good.” Bradley sighed and slumped back in his chair. “Keep it that way. Trust me.”

“Okay... Hey, I’m gonna head to bed now. It’s been a long day.” Benny took a step back, already turning his body to face away. “I’ll see you tomorrow. G’night, Brad.”

Bradley watched as Benny slipped down the hall and vanished behind the door to the room he’d been given. Then he turned himself around and went into his own room. He hesitated after closing the door, wondering if he should actually use the lock. He’d never locked his door before. Never had a reason to. But then again there had never been a guest living with them.

He left the lock alone in the end. Benny had promised that he wouldn’t barge into the room again and somehow Bradley believed that. He hadn’t known the other for long, but something about Benny seemed trustworthy.

He was an odd young man now that Bradley thought about it. The first in a long while to respond to his parents’ ad and take it seriously. The first in... well, really the first at all to not care about the fact that Bradley was in a wheelchair. Benny meant well. Bradley’s temper was just something hard to hold back after a lifetime of being stared at and poked fun of.

With a sigh he decided to leave that train of thought alone. He needed to rest.

Off came his helmet and gloves, both set on a bedside dresser. He raked a hand through his flattened hair and decided that it was getting long enough to need a trim. Then he peeled off his jacket and hung it over the helmet. The blanket across his lap was the last thing to go, folded neatly and stacked on top of the jacket. 

A metal bar had been set into the wall beside his bed and he gripped it to help pull himself out of his chair and onto the mattress. Quickly he wormed his way under the covers and flopped back against the small stack of pillows behind him. He reached over to the dresser to click the light off on the small lamp lighting up his room, bathing everything in darkness. As a habit he glanced down to the trapdoor cut into his floor, knowing that the panel was still opened.

He fell asleep to the gentle lapping of the sea below.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I missed the weekly deadline, but here we are!

“Oxygen tanks full?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And you’ve got your knife?”

“Yes, ma’am, I do.”

“Any time you’re ready then. It shouldn’t be too far down, but be careful.”

“I will, thanks. Wish me luck!”

Benny flashed a wide grin as he fell backward over the side of the boat and splashed into the water below. He was excited for his first dive.

For a minute he let himself simply float and closed his eyes, imagining that the ocean surrounding him was space instead. The illusion was almost perfect. Eventually he had to bring himself back to reality, only a touch disappointed with it, and go about doing his job.

A grouping of shellfish clung to a rocky ledge several feet below and Benny pulled the knife he’d been given off of his belt to cut them loose. They were dropped into a netted bag attached to his left hip and piled up in number until he’d filled it up. If this was all there was to his new job then he figured he’d have it easy. It hadn’t even taken long to collect the shellfish. 

He decided to have a short swim before taking the bag back to the boat.

The rocky ledge extended for a while until it dropped off into a short pit where several more clusters of shellfish could be seen. It was no wonder the town was known for pearls. They could probably easily haul in quite a lot with that many oysters around. But that raised an odd question. Why was Benny the only diver out there? Surely there were others? Then again if there were other divers why were there so many shellfish in one place? While he pondered over the questions and slowly scanned the floor of the pit something besides the oysters caught his eye. He swam slowly toward the strange object and reached out to scoop it out of the sand, almost pressing it to the glass of his visor to have a better look.

The thing was shaped like a raindrop with a slightly pointed end on one side that widened slowly into a large rounded end. Roughly the size of a quarter and inky black in color, but with a glittery shimmer to it when he turned it in his palm. The underside was a dark shade of grey and lacked the shimmer. Beneath Benny’s glove it felt smooth, but he wasn’t sure if it actually was. He wasn’t sure what the object was, but it was pretty and he decided to keep it.

With a full bag of oysters hopefully full of pearls and the strange black object in his hand he made his way back up to the boat.

“Well look at that. Good haul for a first dive.” Pa had said as soon as Benny had climbed back onto the boat and pulled the net free from his hip.

Benny had puffed up proudly at the praise and handed off his catch when Pa made a motion for the bag. Then he held out his other find flat in the palm of his hand.

“I found this thing down by the oysters too. No idea what it is, but isn’t it pretty?” he asked.

Pa and Ma both leaned in to look at the thing in Benny’s hand then turned to look at each other. Something silent seemed to pass between them in a split second. 

“It’s a fish scale, dear.” Ma said. 

Benny blinked in surprise and glanced down at the object in his hand. He’d thought he’d found something more exciting than a simple fish scale. Knowing now what the object was he almost tossed it back into the ocean, but something held him back. Even if it wasn’t treasure it was still a reminder of his first dive. He decided he’d keep it after all.

“So,” he began again, “what do we do with those now?” He pointed to the net bag that Pa now held.

The man smiled and jiggled the bag, the shellfish rattling within. “Now we crack them open and see how lucky y’are.”

Benny felt pleased by the time all his oysters were opened. He’d only hauled in around thirty of the shellfish, but out of those there had been three pearls. At first he’d been disappointed at so few, but Pa had told him that that was an amazing haul. Many divers went years without finding one. 

“You’ve got mermaids’ luck, my boy.” Pa had said proudly. Ma had rolled her eyes and swatted him with a towel she’d been holding oysters with.

Benny had chuckled. “Mermaids’ luck, huh?” he’d asked in amusement. Then he’d leaned over the edge of the boat, his back already leaned against it, and waved a hand out to the sea. “Thank you for the pearls, whoever you are!”

It had been meant as a joke, but he turned back to find serious expressions on both of the couples’ faces. Their expressions caused him to drop his smile quickly.

The seriousness melted away in an instant and the two smiled warmly at him.

“Did I do something wrong?” Benny asked slowly.

The couple both shook their heads and chuckled.

“Not at all.” Pa said.

“Sorry if we seemed a bit odd.” Ma chimed in. 

Neither offered anything else on the matter, so Benny let it drop.

Getting back to the docks took a fair amount of time, but the sun was still up once they made it back. 

“We’ll be off to see about selling your catch, Benny.” Pa said. “Why don’t you take your suit back to the house then explore the town some more? There’s still a few hours of daylight left.”

Benny smiled and nodded at the idea. Maybe he’d run into Sirius again. 

First stop was the house. 

He hung up his suit, pooling a towel on the floor beneath it in case a lot more water came off of it. Then he dug into his backpack, everything he owned still tucked inside, until he fished out a thin chain necklace. It had never had anything on it and he’d never had anything to hang on it. Until now anyway. The little black fish scale he’d found had dried out by then and he fished it out of the pocket he’d put it in. Now the tricky part was getting it onto the chain. Fortunately he was a crafty type.

A sewing needle was produced from his bag a moment later and he used the sharp tip to slowly and carefully drill a tiny hole into the pointed end of the scale. Then he pried a link in the chain necklace apart, pushed it through the hole, and looped it shut. Then he clasped the necklace around his neck and smiled wide as he brushed his fingers over the scale. He was pleased that it felt as smooth as it had beneath his glove.

Something in him wanted to show it off.

Down the hall he went, stopping at Bradley’s door and raising an eager fist to knock. But he paused after hearing a quiet voice. 

“They won’t be back home for a while, I’m sure. Y’know how they like t’sell th’meat as soon as they get back t’port.” Bradley’s voice came.

“Well it doesn’t stay fresh for long, you know. They’re smart about sellin’ it quick.” That voice wasn’t familiar. It was higher pitched than Bradley’s and had a friendly lilt to it as if the person was constantly smiling.

Benny knew he shouldn’t eavesdrop, but he found himself sitting outside the door to listen.

“How’s the new guy? I know you haven’t chased him away yet so he must be good.” the mystery man said.

Benny could hear Bradley huff softly. “He’s alright. Gotta give him points for not holding my temper against me.”

“D’y’think you might tell him?”

“Absolutely not.” Bradley’s voice had turned to steel. “Just because he doesn’t run from my temper or mock my chair doesn’t mean he’s automatically trustworthy. Remember what happened last time we thought we could trust someone?”

“How could I forget?” The other’s voice had gone soft and regretful. “Every time I look at him I’m reminded.”

“And that’s why we can’t trust anyone. It could happen again. It could be worse next time. I refuse to give anyone the chance to hurt us again.”

“There’s a chance we could gain an ally though. Like Bruce did.”

“Bruce befriended a _child_ and an _old man_, Gair. Neither of them are taken very seriously. Even if they turned on us no one would believe them.”

“That’s not the point I’m making. They’ve given us a place to hide if need be. They’re friends and allies. The new guy could be like that too.”

“Business already got to him.”

“...oh...”

A silence stretched behind the door. At that point Benny figured he should leave.

Silently he rose from his spot and tiptoed away from the door, slipping outside before he could be caught. Guilt sat in his gut from eavesdropping and he wondered if he should have heard any of that. He knew Bradley didn’t trust him, but now it sounded like that mystery man wouldn’t trust him either if they ever met. It made him wonder why though if the only deciding factor was Sirius.

Maybe he’d have to find the man and ask. And he was sure where he could find him.

\---

A bell above the door jingled as Benny pushed it open and instantly someone came walking toward him.

“Welcome, welcome! So nice to see a new face in the shop!” The man stopped a respectable distance away and smiled warmly at Benny. Benny in turn smiled back. He was pretty sure who this was judging by the resemblance.

“You must be Risky.” he said, amused when the man fumbled slightly.

“Oh, yes, that’s me! But, uh, how did you know?” Risky asked. He fidgeted slightly, but Benny brushed that off. It must have been odd for a stranger to show up and know your name.

“Your brother told me. We met the other day in a coffee shop and he said that you two own the jewelry store here. I figured this was it. And you look a lot like Sirius too.”

Risky’s nervousness faded quickly after that and he beamed. “Oh, you must be Benny! Sirius told me about the new diver he met. Good to meet you! Unfortunately Sirius isn’t in right now. He had some business to run out of town so it’s just me for a few days.”

“Oh. Well shoot.” Benny deflated a bit and scuffed the ground with the toe of a shoe. “I had a question for him, but I guess it’ll have to wait now.”

“Sorry about that.” Risky shrugged. “Is it something I could answer, maybe?”

It was Benny’s turn to shrug. “I don’t know. I’d rather ask Sirius when he gets back just in case it’s a personal thing. It’s really a question about a friend.”

“Gotcha. Well! You should come hang around some time, Benny. A friend of my brother’s is a friend of mine!” Risky chuckled as he walked around a row of glass jewelry stands and cases. Everything was adorned with pearls and different colored pieces that resembled the scale around his neck.

“This stuff really is high end.” he whistled in appreciation as he glanced at a bracelet. “You add fish scales to your work too?”

“Fish scales?” Risky sounded disgusted at the idea. “We don’t put anything on our work that came from fish. Modeled after fish scales, though. The pieces on them are made of sea glass. Each one carefully hand crafted so no two pieces are alike.” He sounded awfully proud of that.

“Oh. Well I found this on my dive this morning and was told it was a fish scale. I don’t know about any black fish out here though. Is it from something you made?” Benny removed the chain from his neck and held it out as Risky walked back to him.

The other man carefully took the chain and inspected the black scale. He turned it over several times, brought it close and squinted at it, and to Benny’s confusion even bit it. All the while he hummed quietly and frowned as if in deep concentration. Slowly he slid a finger along the scale’s edge up toward the pointed tip where the chain connected and a faint sound, a bit like a bird chirp, sang through the air. 

All at once Risky’s expression bloomed into awe and he stared down at the scale as if he was suddenly holding something much more valuable.

“It’s not our work.” he breathed in a whisper. Then he cleared his throat and handed the chain back to Benny. “You said you found that on a dive?”

Benny nodded. “I don’t think I could tell you exactly where though. It was laying in the sand where I was taken to find oysters.”

“I see... and... you wouldn’t be willing to sell it to me by any chance?”

“You want to buy a fish scale?” Benny raised a brow. It was pretty, sure, but worth something? If it was a normal fish scale he figured it wasn’t worth much. Though it had made that little noise just from being touched. 

Something told him he shouldn’t let it out of his sight.

“Sorry, man, but I’d rather keep it. It’s a trophy from my first dive.” He put on an easy smile so as not to raise suspicion. 

“Ah... Alright then.” Risky looked torn between letting it go and wanting to ask again. Eventually he smiled, looking too forced, and glanced between Benny and the scale sitting against his neck. “If you change your mind I’ll gladly give you something for it.”

“If I change my mind you’ll be the first to know. I promise.” Benny pointed with his thumb over his shoulder toward the door. “I’m gonna head out now though. I’ll make sure to visit again soon.”

Risky nodded eagerly. “I’ll let Sirius know you stopped by! He’ll be glad to know his new friend was around.”

“Awesome. I’ll see you two later.”

And with that Benny walked out of the shop, the bell above the door jingling again.

There was something strange about Risky Business and it wasn’t just his name. Benny wasn’t sure exactly what it was though.

For now he would keep an eye out for the man.

And maybe he’d leave his necklace at the house next time he went out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually read up on how to shuck oysters and the odds of finding a pearl in a wild one. Then I promptly threw away the knowledge I'd gained and wrote whatever I felt like.
> 
> Mermaid's luck, baby!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's for you, CosmicWoods. May you never stop threatening me for more chapters! XD

Benny woke the next morning with a yawn, a long stretch that popped his back, and a quick roll to get out of bed. 

He wandered down the hall and toward the kitchen where a heavenly smell was wafting from. There he was surprised to find Bradley alone. What was presumably a child sized step-stool was tucked underneath him on his chair seat which gave him more height- needed since he was pressed up close to the stove. He held a pan in one hand and a spatula in the other, a stack of pancakes on a plate next to him. Next to that was a second plate covered in tin foil where Benny would guess the smell of bacon was coming from. On the opposite side of the counter sat a carton of eggs waiting to be cooked.

“Mornin’.” Benny called cheerfully.

Bradley jumped, thankfully dropping the pan so that it landed back on the stove instead of on himself or the floor. The spatula, however, dropped to the ground with a clatter. Bradley swore and stared down at it for a long moment before slowly turning his head to look back at Benny. He looked to be at war with himself for another moment.

”...d’you mind picking that up?” he grumbled. “Please?”

Benny nodded and partially skipped his way over, bending down to pick up the dropped utensil, and took it to the sink to wash. Bradley raised a brow at him and glanced into the pan where a pancake was still cooking. Benny tried to wash quickly to keep from making the cake burn. His effort was in vain though as once he handed the spatula back and Bradley flipped his cooking it had turned almost black. Another quiet swear from the man and a shake of the head.

“At least that was the last one.” 

“Sorry.” Benny took the pan as it was handed over to him and dumped the burned cake into the nearby trash bin. He handed it back after getting a ‘give it here’ hand gesture and scooted the egg carton closer when Bradley reached for it. “You don’t strike me as a cooking type guy, Brad.”

“Bradley. Don’t call me Brad. And I like t’cook, thank you very much.” He glanced up and stared at Benny for a few seconds before turning back to his pan and cracking an egg into it. He was quiet while the egg cooked, but once he flipped it he spoke again. “So what type of guy do I strike you as?”

Benny hummed in thought. Was this an olive branch being extended? 

“Besides the obvious?” he questioned lightly. He saw Bradley raise a brow above his sunglasses.

“And what’s the obvious?” the other asked in an almost guarded voice.

Benny smiled. “Well with the helmet, the gloves, and the leather jacket you look like the type to be a cop.”

Bradley stilled, spatula paused halfway to scooping his cooking out of the pan. Slowly he turned his head to look back up at Benny and the faintest hint of a smile played at the edges of his lips. “Really?” He turned back to his cooking and scooped the egg onto another plate.

“_Are_ you a cop?” Benny asked after a pause.

“No.” Bradley answered quietly. “I wanted t’be one. But I can’t exactly chase down criminals or even drive a cruiser without the use of legs. I’ve come t’accept that it’s just not meant t’be.” He didn’t sound too upset, but there was a lingering sadness in his words that sent a pang of sympathy through Benny.

“I wanted to be an astronaut.” he said. “I’m not mentally fit enough for it though. So it’s not in my future. I understand.”

He glanced toward Bradley just as the other turned to look up at him again. The two stared at each other silently for a good solid minute before Bradley huffed, soft and with a half smile. 

“Kindred spirits then.” he decided.

Benny’s smile widened slightly and he hummed his agreement.

They spent the next several minutes in a comfortable silence while Bradley cooked up several more eggs. Then Benny gathered up the soiled cooking utensils and washed them, ignoring Bradley’s attempt to take over the process. He also pointedly _did not_ stare while Bradley tugged the step-stool out from under himself, having turned to give Benny a view of his backside while he did so. Which Benny _did not_ stare at. He also _did not_ giggle at the flash of Bradley’s strange black and white pants, or maybe underwear, which meant that he _absolutely did not_ have to play innocent when Bradley’s head whipped around to glare at him.

Luckily the appearance of Ma and Pa saved Benny from getting a scolding. Which he did not deserve for he was completely innocent. Yep.

“G’morning, mommy. G’morning, daddy.” Bradley greeted.

“Mornin’, son.” Pa replied.

Ma hummed and yawned while walking like a zombie toward the percolating coffee pot. Once she had a cup and had taken a few sips she greeted them properly with a tired sort of cheerfulness.

The four of them sat around the table and eagerly dug into breakfast, not much conversation going around while they ate. Afterwords Benny and Bradley had a quick competition out of who was going to do the dishes. Benny won by playing dirty- dropping a fork on the floor and declaring that Bradley could do the dishes if he could pick it up by himself. He’d grumbled about it, but hadn’t seemed actually offended which Benny counted as another win.

Ma and Pa excused themselves shortly after, needing to head out of town for the day in order to get their hands on some new equipment. The boys wished them safe travels and helped each other clean up the kitchen.

“Hey, Ben,” Bradley spoke while drying a plate, “I know I put up a fuss about it th’other day an’ don’t think y’have t’say yes because of that, but would y’be interested in going out somewhere with me today?”

Benny paused for a moment, halfway to holding out another plate for the other to dry, and stared at Bradley in surprise. Then he smiled brightly and let out a light laugh. “Dude, that would be great! I didn’t make it anywhere but a coffee shop the other day so I still have no idea what’s even out here.”

A bit of relief worked its way into Bradley’s expression and Benny wondered if he’d been expecting rejection. 

“Don’t get your hopes up too high, Ben.” he said. “It’s a small town, not a big city. There isn’t all that much t’do apart from walk along th’beaches an’ swim. Which I can’t do. I’d need help getting around in th’sand and I can’t get too close t’th’water.” An uncomfortable look settled on his face after confessing that.

“That’s fine. I told you before that I wouldn’t mind giving you a push.” Benny shrugged and finished with the last of the dishes, handing off the final plate and setting the utensils on a towel on the counter. “I’ll be doing enough swimming when I go looking for pearls anyway so getting in the water isn’t high up on my list. We wouldn’t even have to go down to the beach at all if you didn’t feel like it.”

Bradley nodded slowly and dried off the last dish before setting both aside. “I need t’check something before we go. Be back in a few minutes.” 

Benny watched him wheel off toward his room and heard the door click shut after a minute. He debated staying put, but his curiosity was too powerful to resist following. He knew he really shouldn’t be intruding, but what he’d heard the night before had too many questions running through his head. He was just looking for answers, he told himself. 

“Have y’been down there waiting this whole time?” Bradley’s hushed voice asked.

“Of course. I wanted to talk to you again about the new guy.” There was that same stranger’s voice from the night before.

He heard Bradley groan and something shuffled noisily. “There’s nothing t’talk about concerning him. I’m doing what you asked and taking him out for th’day t’see how he is. Though I don’t see how that’s supposed t’help me see if he’s trustworthy.”

“Spend a day with someone and you’ll see some of their true colors, Brad. Remember how long it took us to get you to even warm up to Emmet? And now you love him.”

“I do not.”

“You absolutely do.”

Benny almost gave himself away with a chuckle that threatened to bubble up as he listened to the two argue. 

“Regardless,” Bradley continued, “Emmet was a lucky case.”

“Need I remind you of Alfred and Dick again?”

Another low groan, filled to the brim with irritation, sounded out. “No you don’t. Look, Gair, I know how much you want this one t’work out, but I’m telling you it’s not going t’happen.”

“Not with that attitude it won’t.” the stranger huffed. “I’m not just saying so out of wishful thinking either. Even if the Business brothers got to him already it doesn’t mean he’ll end up like them. Please just consider the possibility?”

“Fine. I’ll consider it. Happy now?”

There came a soft almost inaudible sigh followed by the stranger’s voice sounding slightly defeated. “Not in the slightest, but I know that’s the best I’ll get from ya.”

”...y’know I’m just out t’keep us safe, right?” Bradley’s voice had gone soft. “After what happened t’Keelan...”

“You know that wasn’t your fault, Bradley. Don’t you dare go blaming yourself.”

Benny backed away from the door after that. Whatever that conversation was about he absolutely did not want to intrude upon it. Still, he’d heard another chunk of conversation already that onlyleft him with more thoughts. The most pressing being who was that stranger in there? And, come to think of it, was there actually a person in there or was Bradley just having a loud phone conversation? While he pondered over the answer he reached up to his necklace and slowly stroked his thumb over the scale hanging from it.

He froze when a musical note sounded out.

He’d forgotten that that had happened under Risky’s touch just the day before.

And he wasn’t the only one who’d heard it. But the reaction that followed was the biggest surprise.

“Emmet?” the stranger’s voice called out curiously. “Is that you?”

“Are y'alone? And why didn’t y'call t’let us know y’were coming? Did something hap-” Bradley’s question cut off as he suddenly flung the door open only to catch sight of Benny frozen in place only feet away.

The two locked eyes, both widened as the situation caught up to them.

“Ben.” That single word was a steely venom coated threat.

“Is that him? Hello, there!” the stranger’s chipper voice called out.

Benny’s eyes snapped to just over Bradley’s shoulder to peer into his room, widening further as he caught sight of the mystery man. Firstly he was popped halfway out of the hole cut in Bradley’s floor which told Benny that he’d been swimming under the house in order to visit with the other. Secondly he looked just like Bradley, but wore a pair of large rounded glasses instead of dark aviators. 

There were also fins on the sides of his head where normal ears should have been.

“Ben.” Bradley’s voice snapped him back into the present and his wide eyes shot back to the speaker in an instant. “Now you listen t’me _very_ carefully.”

“I didn’t see anything!” Benny blurted, voice high pitched enough to crack. “I swear this doesn’t leave this house!”

“No, dear, it doesn’t.”

“Mum, no!”

Before Benny could so much as turn around his head exploded in pain.

Then everything went dark and he collapsed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact time! Originally I was going to name Scribble Cop Sean or Spencer in my fics, but after reading Eternally_Exhausted's fics I couldn't stop referring to him as Keelan. It's too cute a name. So I got permission to use the name and now here we are!
> 
> Keelan will be making an appearance here within the next few chapters!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter got away from me lengthwise! Seven pages is my usual stopping point, but there was so much I needed to fit in here that it ended up clocking in at eleven pages. That's a new record for me!

“You’ve killed him...”

“Hush now, Gairbith. I’ve done no such thing.”

“He’ll have a hell of a headache when he wakes up though.”

“Language, Bradley.”

“Sorry, mommy.”

“Your mom’s right though, Gair. I think he’s actually waking up already.”

Hard as Benny tried to fight against the pull of consciousness, he was indeed waking up. And he did have quite a headache blossoming in the entirety of the back of his skull. He let out a groan and tried to raise a hand to cover the source of pain, but found that he couldn’t move his arms. Or his legs for that matter.

A momentary panic woke him the rest of the way and he struggled against the bindings he could now see holding his wrists and ankles together.

“What the hell!” he shouted, immediately regretting it as a stab of pain shot through his head.

“Language.” Ma chided gently.

Benny wasn’t in the mood to be told off. He’d been knocked in the head, passed out, and had woken tied up and in pain in the middle of a small crowd. Ma, Pa, Bradley, Bradley’s double with the fins for ears, and another stranger all stood around staring at him and they were concerned about him _swearing_?

“Hey,” the second stranger started in a voice like he was talking to a cornered wild animal, “I know you must be pretty scared right now, and that’s perfectly reasonable given the circumstances, but try to calm down a little bit. Can you do that?”

Benny wanted to scream. He wanted to tell the guy off right then and there. But there was just something about him, whether his words or the way they were spoken he wasn’t sure, that did actually help to calm Benny’s racing heart. Dumbly he found himself nodding and the stranger smiled sweetly.

“Awesome. Now just stay calm, okay? No one here is going to hurt you again. We’re just going to ask you some questions and then we’ll let you go.”

“I’ve got one for a start.” Bradley growled, already pushing himself closer without waiting for anyone else’s word. “What were y’doing eavesdropping outside my door?”

Benny looked away in guilt. “Just... hoping for answers, I guess...”

“Answers t’what?”

“I... I heard you the other night too...” he confessed. “Talking about how you didn’t trust me. I just wanted to know why, man. But, uh, I can take a guess as to why now...” He pointedly glanced over at Bradley’s mirror image and sucked in a sharp breath.

It wasn’t just the guy’s ears that were finned.

His whole lower half was one long fish tail.

“Oh shit.” Benny breathed, caught somewhere between awe and disbelief.

The man was laid out on the carpet instead of being only half out of the hole in the floor now which had given Benny a good view of his tail. It was comprised of mostly bright white scales with patches of black, growing fewer in number closer to under the man’s ribs until they tapered off into flesh. The tail ended in a single translucent blue fin and the fins along his back and belly were the same color. His arms were splashed with random patches of white scales and Benny could see that his fingers were tipped with sharp looking claws. And now that Benny was looking he could see that the man did have normal ears, but that they became discolored halfway up and blended into fins of the same translucent blue as his body’s fins.

“Hi!” the mermaid, or merman rather, chirped in greeting and waved at him.

Benny slowly raised his bound hands and waved awkwardly. “Hi...”

“Don’t talk t’him.” Bradley snapped, wheeling right in front of Benny and blocking his view. 

“He’s already seen me, Brad. Just let me talk to him. I’ve been waiting patiently!” the merman said.

“No.”

“Let your brother chat with Benny, Bradley. What harm could he do trussed up like that?” Pa asked, voice gentle to cut the tension.

Bradley growled, actually growled low in his throat, but eventually backed off with a huff. Instantly the merman dragged himself forward across the carpet with seemingly no trouble. He wore a wide smile and along with his twinkling eyes he painted a picture of innocent curiosity. Benny couldn’t help staring, watching the man’s ear fins point forward toward him with a flick.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Benny!” he chirped. “Though I do wish the circumstances were better.”

“Uh... Same...?” Benny wanted to look around at the others, but found his eyes glued to the merman. “So, uh, you’re a...a merman, huh?”

He giggled. Behind him Bradley groaned.

“As you can see.” he said with a thump of his tail on the floor. “My name’s Gairbith. You can call me Gair if you’d like. All my friends do.”

“Your friends? Like, mermaid friends or...?” Benny felt awkward. He had no idea what to say in this situation.

“He’s prodding.” Bradley’s growling voice caught his attention and he looked up to see the man turned to face the other stranger in the room. “Have y’gotten through t’Alfred yet? Th’sooner we can get this over with th’better.”

“Oh, I got a hold of him right before I got here. He said Bruce was already there and we could bring the new guy over whenever.” the stranger said.

Bradley paused. “Why didn’t y’tell us y’already called? We could’ve already been over there t’deal with this!”

“Uh...” The stranger ducked his head and gave a sheepish look toward the merman in front of Benny. “I did tell Gair...”

That got the wheelchair bound man to turn in order to level a sharp gaze at Gair. Gair, for his part, didn’t look affected at all. If anything his smile brightened. “If I’d relayed the message then Benny would’ve been loaded up as soon as Ma knocked him out and I wouldn’t have gotten to talk to him!” he chirped.

“Okay, so, can someone please explain to me what the heck is even going on? And why you’re all talking about taking me somewhere?” Benny suddenly decided to ask. He was getting tired of waiting around and the rope around his wrists was starting to itch.

“It’s nothing to worry about, dear.” Ma tried to assure him. “But we need to have a discussion with a few others on what to do with you now that you’ve seen Gairbith.”

“What to do with me? What’s that supposed to mean? Is this one of those cases where I’ve seen some big secret and now I can never see the light of day again? Are you planning to kill me?” Benny’s voice rose slowly with each sentence and he ended on a high note laced with a touch of fear. The way he’d been knocked out, tied up, and with everyone planning to haul him off to only they knew where it seemed like a very real possibility.

However, Bradley’s next line cut that train of thought off immediately.

“Quit your bellyaching! If we wanted y’dead y’wouldn’t’ve woken up. Y’would’ve been tied up t’a cement block an’ dumped through th’hole in my floor t’sink into th’ocean.”

Benny stared at him for a good solid minute before cracking a wobbly grin and laughing nervously. Looking around at all the serious faces made him drop the smile and gulp.

“But!” Gair suddenly almost shouted. “You’re not dead and we plan on keeping you that way! Honestly you don’t seem like a bad guy at all.”

“Business didn’t seem like a bad guy at first either, Gairbith.” Bradley growled.

Gair flinched and made a tiny noise of distress. “Benny’s different than Business. I can feel it deep down.”

“Yeah, well, we’ll let th’others have a say about that.”

That was when Pa stepped in to speak. “Now the hard part about that is how to get Benny over there. We can’t leave ‘im tied up while we go walkin’ through town now. And then there’s gettin’ ‘im to Alfred’s island.”

“I could knock him out again.” Ma grinned as she said it. A joke, but it didn’t make Benny feel any better.

“How about I just walk with you?” Benny offered. “I’m seriously not about to run away, I swear.”

Glances were shared around the room. Eventually it seemed like they’d decided to go with his suggestion as Pa stepped closer and flicked out a pocket knife to cut through the ropes on Benny’s wrists and ankles. Once he was loose he rubbed feeling back into where the bindings had cut in with a mumbled thanks.

“Alright, you’re loose now. Get up and let’s go.” Bradley grumbled at him before turning and wheeling out through the door. Benny watched him go with a short huff.

“We were just starting to get along too...” he mumbled quietly.

Just as he was starting to stand up he noticed a hand stuck in his face and looked up to find the stranger. He took the offered hand and grunted as he was pulled to his feet, taking a moment to admire the slight bulge of muscle in the man’s arm before letting go.

“My name’s Emmet.” he introduced himself. “It’s really nice to meet you. And just so you know I’ll be sticking pretty close to you during this trip just to make sure you don’t try to run off or anything.”

Benny chuckled weakly and nervously scratched at the back of his neck. “Dude, I really am not gonna run.”

“I know that, but it’s more comforting to the rest of them. No one can run away from me if I don’t want them to.” Emmet smiled brightly as he said this which only made Benny more nervous.

“That sounds really ominous...” 

“Huh?” Emmet seemed to consider his words then looked surprised. “Oh, I didn’t mean it to sound like that! I just meant it literally. I mean...” He frowned in thought and hummed. “Okay, so, earlier I’ll bet you felt pretty calmed down when I told you to calm down? Like most people would just get madder if they were told to calm down in that situation, but you actually calmed down?”

Benny nodded.

“That was because of me. My voice has this awesome magic in it that gets people to listen to me. Most of the time anyway.”

“So...” Benny glanced over to see Ma pulling a spare wheelchair from Bradley’s closet and setting it up. “You’re magic? But not a merman.”

“Well that’s obvious. I don’t have a tail.” Emmet chuckled. “I’m a siren. Well, part siren. My mom was a siren, but my dad was human. My voice is the only thing that gives away my mom’s side.”

Benny was really only half listening as Emmet babbled about his family history, focused more on Gair. Ma had set up the wheelchair and had walked off to grab a helmet identical to Bradley’s and a black and white blanket sans the cartoon police cars. Meanwhile the merman pulled himself into the chair and then donned the helmet, hiding his ear fins, when Ma returned to hand it to him. The blanket was then tucked around his tail in a way that perfectly hid it from view. Seeing Gair wheel himself out the door after that clicked a few pieces together in his mind.

“Oh.” he said out loud. 

Ma and Pa both caught his eye, smiled knowingly, and walked out after their sons. He and Emmet followed soon after. And just as Emmet had warned him, the man stuck pretty close. Once the group stepped outside he even reached out to grab Benny’s hand which caused his heart to flutter and his cheeks to turn pink.

Maybe it was just his imagination, but he swore Bradley curled his lip at the sight of their laced fingers. Benny wouldn’t be bothered if it wasn’t his imagination though. He’d dealt with homophobia before.

Surprisingly their trip through town was a quick one. The docks were their destination and the six of them hopped into Ma and Pa’s pearl boat and set out. Benny couldn’t see any islands from the docks so he figured it would be a while before their trip was over. The perfect opportunity to ask questions that had been burning at him.

“Hey, Ma.” he called out. Emmet had released him now that there really was nowhere for him to run and he’d followed the couple into the captain’s cabin. Pa was steering the ship which left Ma free.

“Yes, Benny?” She’d paused to smile at him then had walked with him around a corner, giving them a touch of privacy. “I suppose you have some questions. And we have some time before we get to the island.”

Benny nodded and asked the first, and most burning, of his big questions. “Is Bradley a merman too? I watched Gair get into his chair back at the house and saw how you helped him hide his tail and ears and Bradley’s got the same exact setup going for him so I figure I already know the answer, but. Is he? A merman?”

Ma’s smile widened a bit and she nodded slowly. “He is. But don’t go asking to see his tail now. I can’t stop him from tossing you overboard.”

Benny grinned wide and let out a bark of a laugh. He hadn’t been planning on asking anyway. 

“Okay, okay, next question. So. How did you and Pa end up with merman twins? I mean you said they’re your kids, but, like, how?”

“They’re not biologically ours, dear, but they’re ours all the same.” Ma turned her head to look down the short hall as if waiting for someone to peek around the corner. “Back when Pa and I were younger and had just moved here there was a terrible storm. We were clearing a part of the beach afterword when we heard a child crying and we had to go running to find out what had happened. There was a little cove in the rocks that had collapsed and we feared the worst when the child’s crying went quiet. Pa and I spent an hour just digging through those rocks to get into that cove. And when we uncovered it, lo and behold, we found three sets of eyes staring back at us.”

“Wait, three?” Benny interrupted. Ma took it in stride and simply nodded.

“Yes, three. Bradley and Gairbith were the older two of the trio. Twins, of course. They were such a sight back then. Puffed up and hissing and trying to look threatening, but they were just so small that it was endearing more than anything. They’d been trying to keep us from seeing their younger brother, but we’d already seen little Keelan peeking up at us from behind them. It took a while to get them to understand that we weren’t there to hurt them and Pa and I have a few scars from the attempt, but eventually we got through to them and took them home.”

“So Bradley decided to stay with you guys and Gair and Keelan stay in the ocean?” Benny asked.

“That’s right. Gairbith and Keelan come to visit from time to time.”

“Will I get to meet Keelan?”

Here Ma hesitated. After a moment she offered a kind, but also somewhat sad, smile. “Perhaps. He’s an incredibly shy boy after... after his accident.”

Benny wasn’t sure if he should ask, but curiosity won out in the end. “What happened?”

“That’s not for me to tell you, dear.” Ma replied. “If you ever do meet him then maybe he’d say.”

He nodded and left it at that.

“There y’are!” 

They both glanced up as Bradley’s voice caught their attention. He’d wheeled around the corner and was currently sitting with his arms crossed and an expression of irritation decorating his face. “Would y’_please_ come out here an’ entertain Gairbith for a while? He’s pestering th’life outta me asking where y’went. I’m about t’throw _him_ overboard.”

“Oh. Sure.” Benny snickered. 

The three then went in separate directions, Ma heading back to stand beside her husband while Benny and Bradley made their way to the deck. Bradley stuck around long enough for his twin to wheel up to them excitedly then mumbled an excuse about checking on Emmet and left him with Benny.

“Hello again, Benny!” Gair chirped at him. Benny smiled, feeling the merman’s joy infect him as well.

“Hey, Gair.” he greeted. “What’s up? I heard you’ve been bugging Brad.”

The merman laughed, a pleasant melodious sound, and nodded while glancing toward where his twin had vanished. “I’m sure he’s ready to be rid of me already! I just can’t help it though! It’s been a long time since we’ve gotten everyone together and I’m geared up to get them on our side!”

“So you’re really ready to take my side just like that? What about your brother?” Benny asked.

“Brad doesn’t understand.” Gair huffed. “I mean I get where he’s comin’ from, I really do, but he automatically distrusts any human that isn’t mum or da and I don’t think that’s fair at all. You seem like too nice of a guy and I’m sure there are lots more people like you.”

“Well, for what it’s worth, I’d never even consider hurting you. Any of you. You’ve been nothing but friendly, Emmet seems like a great guy, and Brad’s even got his nicer moments.” Benny said.

“Good to hear.” Gair said. 

A while passed with the two simply chatting about anything and everything that popped into their heads. At some point Gair had taken off his helmet to sit it on his lap, claiming that it became uncomfortable and it wasn’t necessary since they were far away from any eyes that shouldn’t see his fins. He filled Benny in on what to expect when they got to the island, namely the two humans who lived there and the group of mer people that he would have to face. He claimed that they were all good people, though Benny couldn’t help but be worried.

“Land ho!” Emmet’s voice suddenly shouted, drawing out the final word comically.

“Oh! There it is!” Gair chirped. He excitedly wheeled toward the front of the boat with Benny close behind. Emmet was already front and center and Bradley joined their little group after a minute.

Benny watched as the island grew closer and soon caught a glimpse of a figure standing at the edge of the dock jutting out from the shore. After the boat was tied to the dock and everyone disembarked, Benny found himself being stared down an older man who said not a word to him while they locked eyes. He had a gentle air about him, but somehow also gave off the aura of someone who could easily hold his own in a fight. 

“Good afternoon, everyone. I trust your trip went well?” he finally asked. His voice was calm and gentle- almost as much as Pa’s, but not quite to that level. A murmur of agreement met his question and he smiled slightly. “Good. And it’s a pleasure to meet you, young man. I am Alfred.”

“Oh, well hello. Nice to meet you too. I’m Ben. You can call me Benny if you want.”

The man nodded at him. “Now if you all would follow me, please. Master Bruce has been getting antsy waiting for your arrival.”

Everyone filed along behind Alfred up a worn dirt path to a rather large building perched between rolling hills and were ushered inside. It was elegantly decorated and immaculately clean and despite the size of the place it felt rather homey. Their group traveled through the main room, everyone who wore them taking off their shoes as per Alfred’s request, and were lead into what looked like a giant pool room. It was mostly empty apart from the absolutely massive pool that took up over half of the room. A sharp eye would notice that the water dipped beneath the edge of the wall and connected to the ocean outside, fish swimming freely in and out and creating an aquarium effect.

A sharper eye would notice that fish weren’t the only things swimming about.

Benny’s eyes widened as he leaned slightly over the edge of the water, spotting something bright orange against the dark bottom moving toward their group. Then all at once a figure burst from the water and he jerked back with a gasp.

“This is the guy?” a deep rasping voice asked with obvious disapproval. “Doesn’t look like much of a threat. I could end this guy with one punch. Bam! Problem solved.”

“I’m sorry, but who are you?” Benny asked incredulously.

The man leveled a glare at him, obviously not liking that Benny didn’t already know who he was. “Bruce Wayne. Only, like, the coolest merman you’ll ever meet. Check out my sweet fins.” In an instant the merman grabbed the edge of the pool and hauled himself out, biceps flexing and catching Benny’s attention for a split second. Damn his attraction to muscular men.

His tail was long and sleek with two impressively large fins growing one from his back and one from his belly and two slightly shorter fins growing along either side of the large underside one. Like Gair’s his tail ended with a single fin. Most of his glittering scales were as black as a starless night, but thin lines of bright orange outlined each fin in a way that made him seem almost unreal. 

“Oh, wow.” Much as Benny didn’t want to admit it, he was a really cool merman.

“Told you.” The merman puffed up and shot him a winning smile, taking in Benny’s awed stare and basking in the attention.

“Bruce.” Bradley’s voice cut in. “Is everyone else coming?”

Bruce deflated a bit and pulled himself back into the water, flicking his tail as he went and raining water droplets down on the group. “Yeah, yeah, they should be here soon enough.” he answered after coming back up. “Water’s free by the way. I know you like being dried out, but it’s not good for your muscles. Gotta keep them exercised.”

A splash to their side and a glance to find an empty wheelchair alerted them that Gair had wasted no time taking that invitation. His white scales were easy to spot along the dark bottom and Benny smiled as he watched the merman speed around before coming back to pop up nearby. 

“C’mon, Brad! We haven’t had a proper swim together in months!” he called out.

Bradley snorted and stayed put. “No thank you.” He pointedly shot a side glance at Benny and his expression tightened.

“Aw! Come on, Brad!”

“No.”

Benny watched as behind Bradley Emmet began to grin. It was the sort of grin that meant someone was up to something. And it came to no surprise to him when he watched Emmet surge forward, grab the handlebars of Bradley’s chair, and give him a hard shove toward the water.

“Go swim with your brother, Brad!” Emmet laughed as he dumped the other right out of his chair and into the pool. Somehow he managed to snag the blanket off of Bradley before it hit the water and calmly folded it and laid it on the seat even as the man popped up and began screaming at him.

“Darn it, Brickowski! I said no! You’d better dry out my helmet or so help me I’ll throttle ya when I get out!” Said helmet was tugged off of his head and chucked at Emmet who caught it effortlessly.

Benny couldn’t help laughing. He also couldn’t help his eyes roving over Bradley’s now exposed tail. Even under the water he could see that it was built exactly like Gair’s, but with more black scales and only patches of white. The two were opposites in their coloring. And where the webbing between Gair’s fins was blue Bradley’s was a translucent red. The same red coloring made up the fins on his ears.

“And _you_ stop staring at me!” he snapped, pointing at Benny. A moment later he growled and whipped off his soaked gloves to toss them onto dry land, flashing a brief glimpse of sharp claws on his now bare hands.

He continued to growl and protest being in the water even as Gair swam up to him and pulled him along toward the exit to the ocean. Benny watched them disappear beneath the water and vanish outside then sat himself on the edge of the pool. Emmet joined him after a minute, reaching over to lay a hand on his shoulder.

“Nervous?” he asked.

Benny nodded. “Emmet?” He glanced up at the partial siren and frowned. “I know you guys said you weren’t going to kill me, but what happens to me if the rest of the mermaids don’t approve of me knowing about them?”

Emmet was quiet for a beat which filled Benny with dread. Then his smile slipped into only a half one and he glanced toward the wall where the pool met the ocean. “One of our friends is magic. If most of them don’t think you can be trusted then she’ll use her magic to erase your memories of everyone. You’ll go back to just before you saw Gair and you’ll never know the difference.”

“Oh.” He didn’t like the thought of that. “So I’d forget all of you...”

“If it makes you feel better, I’m sure Gair would come to visit you. And so would I. If you’d want me to.”

“Yeah... I’d like to stay friends. Or, I guess, make friends with you again if it happens. I really hope it doesn’t though...”

Emmet opened his mouth to say something else, but was cut off by the twins shooting back through the gap beneath the wall and popping up together in front of him and Benny.

“They’re coming!” Gair sang out.

“Better get ready t’meet th’group, Ben.” Bradley said. “Because they’re all _dying_ t’meet you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone wondering what kinds of fish I'm basing the mer people on:
> 
> Bradley, Gairbith, and Keelan are all based on the black goby. 
> 
> Bruce is based on a dusky batfish.
> 
> In the next chapter I'll post the rest of the fish types as the rest of the crew are met!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Definitely missed the once a week deadline on this chapter!
> 
> It was actually really hard to write this one. Between being busy with the holidays, work, and farm life I haven't had a whole lot of free time. And when I did have time it seemed like I was always in a creative slump and just could not get anything out. So it may be a bit sloppy compared to previous chapters, but I made sure it reached at least the same length as the others just so I didn't post a super short chapter that I'd end up hating quickly.
> 
> It's mostly filler so y'all have to wait until the next chapter to get anything really good. Hope you enjoy!
> 
> Fun fact I just recently learned that's come in handy: the unisex term for mer people is merrow!

Benny quickly stood and watched as the water rippled against the wall of the building as more merrow joined the three already in the pool. Immediately his eyes tracked a bubblegum pink figure cutting through the water toward where he stood. Instead of stopping at the edge though the figure simply leaped out of the water straight at Benny who jumped back with a yelp.

Then they landed and Benny’s eyes widened.

Not a humanoid figure, but a large cat stood before him. A large bubblegum pink cat with a sharp looking horn jutting from its forehead and a long matching pink fish tail.

Benny rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t seeing things.

“Hi!” the cat creature sung in greeting. “I am Unikitty! And it’s wonderful to meet you!”

“Uh. Yeah. Same here.” Benny smiled nervously. “I’m Ben. Benny.”

He watched, eyes widening again, as Unikitty’s horn began to glow and her tail began to shrink. In mere moments her back end had gone from a fish tail to a pair of horse-like hooves and an incredibly fluffy looking tail. She didn’t even look like she’d ever been in the water- not a single drop anywhere on her fur.

“Oh. Uh, wow. Uh.” Benny couldn’t believe what he’d just seen. Or what he was still seeing. “So you’re not a mermaid?”

Unikitty giggled and shook her head. “Only sometimes!”

“Not all mythical creatures are merrow, Benny.” Emmet said in amusement. 

“Yeah. There are tons of other species and chimera in the world. Why do humans think so narrowly?” came a new voice.

Benny looked back to the pool and noticed a few new faces having emerged from the water. The one who had spoken was a dark haired mermaid who stared at him with a look that seemed like it was trying to be disapproving but falling just short of it. Two streaks of color broke up the darkness of her hair just above her eyes, one a light blue and the other magenta, and Benny wondered if it was natural. 

“I don’t think narrowly.” Benny defended himself. “I’m just trying to get used to the fact that everything I grew up thinking was fake is suddenly real, live, and in front of my face.”

The mermaid raised a brow and a smirk pulled her lips upward. “Normal human thoughts.” Then she turned her attention toward Emmet and her expression brightened while her dark ear fins pointed forward. “Hey, babe.”

“Hi, Lucy!” Emmet greeted back. He passed by Benny and sat down at the edge of the water in front of the mermaid, the two leaning in close and pressing their foreheads together briefly. “I missed you.”

“Missed you too.” Lucy said softly.

“Emotion.” Bruce suddenly spoke up. “Barf.”

Just as the pair turned unamused expressions his way, a brightly colored figure burst from the water to drape himself over Bruce’s back and wrap his arms around the man’s neck.

“You never have a problem with emotion around _me_, Batsy.” the newcomer said in a sing-song voice.

In terms of interesting characters, this guy by far took the cake. For one thing his slicked back hair was entirely bright green and for another his skin was literally chalk white. Bright red color ringed his lips and the wide grin he sported was filled with sharp looking shark-like teeth. For a moment Benny thought he recognized the tail type of the strange man as a clownfish, but the shape didn't quite seem right so he doubted his guess was right. The colors were also far from the usual orange and white of the fish he’d seen in aquariums. The scales of his body were royal purple while the striping was the same shade of green as his hair.

“Joker!” Bruce growled, turning his head to glare at the merman clinging to him. “What are you doing here? You weren’t invited!”

“Oh, but I just _had_ to meet the guy you were all worked up about! And if it’s enough to get the whole gang involved then you just know I’ll end up crashing the party!” Then he turned his head toward land and his already wide smile stretched further as he spotted Benny. “Is that him?”

“Yeah, that’s him.” Bruce sighed. “Now could you get off my back? Literally. Get off.”

The merman giggled and made a quick dive forward to plant a kiss on Bruce’s cheek then launched himself away before the now shouting man could catch him with a swung arm. A few moments later he was popping up in front of Benny, mad grin still in place as he hauled himself halfway out of the water in order to lean out over the edge of the pool. Benny wasn’t sure what to make of him, but he stayed out of reach. Those sharp teeth made him nervous.

“Well hello there!” Joker greeted loudly. “Boy, let me tell you, you’re not what I expected at all! The way I’ve been hearing everyone go off about some problematic human seeing someone’s fins made me think we’d have another kooky old guy to deal with! But you barely look older than Batsy’s boy!”

“He’s at least twice Dick’s age, Joker.” came Bradley’s voice from the older end of the pool. 

Joker merely waved the comment off. “Yeah, well, technicalities. My point is he looks harmless! Just a cute little guy! Especially compared to Ahab and you know it.”

“Who’s Ahab?” Benny questioned. 

He got a hand waving him off too. “You’ll get to meet him later, don’t worry. But for now you’ve gotta deal with us! Better make yourself comfortable, kiddo, and get ready for a lot of questions! Like, who even are you? Where’d you come from? You’ve seriously never met a merrow before? How could you not know you were living with one? You were living with Mr Grumpy Gills over there weren’t you?”

It was a lot to take in all at once and Benny felt his head spinning. Unikitty, still sitting beside him from where she’d emerged from the pool, reached out to pat his knee. Thankfully he didn’t have to try to make sense of any of that rambling at that moment.

“Dad!”

An excited voice rang through the air and several heads turned to see a young boy rushing into the room. He darted past where Benny and Unikitty stood and jumped straight into the water. Benny was getting used to seeing new things now so the gray feathered wings that shot out on either side of the boy’s back when he jumped did little to shock him besides causing his brows to raise.

Joker had turned his full attention on the winged child in the water and laughed gleefully as he scooped the boy onto his back and swam around. Bruce was at his side in seconds and the three retreated to the far end of the pool where they seemed to go into quiet conversation.

“That whole group is crazy excitable, am I right?”

Benny jumped when a new voice rang out and turned to see yet another merrow lounging on the edge of the pool fully out of the water. His tail was much longer than the others’ and much sleeker. Instantly the human knew he was built for speed and, judging by his muscular build, there was quite a bit of strength in him too. His dark brown hair looked entirely too fluffy for being wet and the grin below that hair was full of confidence to the point of cockiness. He was the first merrow Benny had seen facial hair on too, the stubble making his chiseled features that much more attractive.

With so many attractive mer people in one room Benny was beginning to feel like his life had turned into some sort of dating game. 

“Hey,” the merman spoke again, “you hear me, kid? Or did my good looks render you speechless?”

Benny blinked owlishly. “Uh. Yeah. Kinda.” As soon as he realized what had come out of his mouth his face turned red.

Nearby Lucy snickered and Emmet looked like he was trying not to smile. Beside him Unikitty was giving him and amused look. Nearby on the opposite side Gair was hiding a grin behind his hands and Bradley was shaking his head slowly with a frown on his face. Bruce, Joker, and the winged boy were too far off to have heard him and Ma, Pa, and Alfred had stepped out of the room at some point.

The attractive mystery merman had looked genuinely surprised at Benny’s admission for a split second. Then he’d gone back to a confident grin and chuckled, the deep rumble of his voice pleasant to hear.

“You’ve got some good taste. I think I like you already.” He paused to chuckle again then puffed himself up proudly. “The name’s Rex Dangervest. Treasure hunter, goliath grouper wrangler, and barracuda trainer!”

“I’m Benny.” he replied. “Uh... pearl diver?”

“Oh, nice! They say for pearl divers in that little town the world is your oyster, you know. Now if the world was _my_ oyster I’d wish the pearl inside was as good looking as you.”

The red on Benny’s cheeks intensified and he smiled nervously. Was he really being hit on by a merman? Was that really actually happening? Holy shit, was he on the road to getting a _merman boyfriend_?

“W-Well they also say that there are plenty of fish in the sea, but you’d be the one catch I couldn’t throw back.” He ended with finger guns pointed at Rex and shot him a wink.

A chorus of groans sounded around the room, but Benny didn’t care because he’d caused Rex to break into a huge toothy smile and the merman’s eyes had lit up brightly.

Then Bradley was suddenly at their edge of the pool glaring up at him. “Alright, that’s enough of that.” he growled. “Have y’forgotten just what he’s here for, Dangervest? I know y’can’t help trying t’court everything that moves, but we haven’t even decided whether he gets t’walk out of here with his memories intact yet.”

And just like that the good humor left Rex’s face and he bared his teeth at Bradley in a snarl. “Piss off, Copperson!”

“Guys, hey, c’mon! Don’t fight each other!” Emmet called out, already moving toward their group. 

“Relax, Emmet, we’re not gonna tear each other’s fins off this time.” Rex said. 

“That’s good because you’re a whiny baby when your fins are torn!” Lucy threw out with a laugh.

“Hey!” Rex shouted back at her. “I’ll take you _and_ Brad on any day!”

“Why?” she shot back, grinning in amusement. “So you can get your tail whooped by both of us at the same time?”

“That’s it! In the water right now!” Rex dove into the pool after shouting the command and Lucy pushed off the edge to give chase. 

Benny watched the two tumble in the water, breaking off and speeding around only to end up colliding once again now and then. He didn’t see any blood which he counted as a good thing. Then Rex popped up laughing and smiling and Benny realized it wasn’t a real fight. He sighed in relief at that.

Then he noticed Bradley watching him.

“What?” he questioned as he turned to face the merman.

“What what?” came Bradley’s quick reply.

Benny couldn’t help the snort of amusement that escaped him. “What’re you staring at me for?”

“I’m not staring. I’m trying t’figure y’out.”

“What’s there to figure out about me? Is it weird that I’m concerned about them possibly hurting each other?”

Bradley raised a brow and glanced at the pair chasing each other around in the water. “If those two ever purposefully hurt each other I think it’d be a sign of th’world ending.” he mumbled. Then he shook his head and turned back to address Benny. “I can’t decide whether you’re actually as calm about all this as y’seem.”

“He seems like a genuinely good guy, Bradley!” Unikitty chirped from behind Benny. “I think we should give him a chance!”

Bradley was quiet as he regarded the horned cat. Then he huffed. “Guess there’s no point arguin’ against that. You’ve got th’best read on people.”

“Yep!” She gave a toothy smile and Benny was sure he saw a rainbow shoot over her head for a moment. “But we’ll see what Ahab says first. I doubt he’s going to be against letting Benny stay though. I have a feeling they’ll get along like two peas in a pod!”

“We’ll see.” Bradley said. With a final glance toward Benny he turned and swam back to his twin’s side.

Benny sighed through his nose as he watched the two chatting quietly with each other. “He doesn’t like me much does he, Unikitty?” he asked after a minute of quiet.

“Huh?” She looked up at him curiously. “I wouldn’t say that. He’s been pretty friendly all things considered. He’s just a little on guard around you. You’re the first human who’s known about us since the Business brothers.”

“Wait, what? They know about you guys?” Benny’s brows had shot up and he stared at Unikitty in shock. “That would explain Risky’s behavior when I let him see this.” He picked up the dark scale from where it had slid under his shirt on the necklace he wore, running his thumb along the edge until it let out that familiar chirp it had before.

All eyes turned toward him at the sound and soon he had a curious audience crowded around the edge of the pool.

“Where’d _you_ get a merrow scale?”

“More like _when_ did you get it. It looks new.”

“It’s so dark... who dropped it?”

“Bruce?”

“Not mine. I haven’t been anywhere near human waters in months.”

Questions continued to fly between everyone until a loud thump from outside the building caught everyone’s attention. Heads turned toward the far wall where the ocean dipped out and another thump outside came.

“Avast!” a booming voice from outside reached them, muffled through the wall. “I be finally arrivin’! Come out so I can meet the little troublemaker!”

In an instant there was a flurry of movement as merrow swam quickly to the edge of the wall and dove out to the sea to greet whoever it was that owned that booming voice. Benny watched Joker drop off the winged child onto dry land before heading out with Bruce. Beside him Unikitty’s lower half changed back to the bubblegum pink fish tail he’d first seen on her and she too disappeared into the ocean. Soon after the child ran past and out of the room, wings flapping and spraying salt water everywhere. Only Benny, Bradley, and Gair remained.

“C’mon then, Benny!” Gair chirped to his confusion. “We’re needed outside!”

“Hang on, hold on! Who was that?” Benny took a step away from the pool despite being signaled closer.

“That, Ben,” Bradley answered, “is Ahab. And you _do not_ want t’keep him waiting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> People wanna read about Rex flirting, right?
> 
> Boy do I hope so.
> 
> Because that's gonna be a thing now.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter was hard to write. My brain just didn't want to do anything with it the whole month and I had to edit out a huge chunk in order to start it up again. Ugh.

“You sure about this?” Benny questioned as he stepped closer to the pool.

Below, Gair nodded. He held his arms out toward the diver and made quick ‘come here’ motions with his hands. “It’ll be quicker than walking around the building. And I can handle you just fine. You’ll weigh next to nothing in the water.”

Benny shuffled in place nervously. A few feet away Bradley began to grumble.

“Quit stallin’ an’ just get in th’water, Ben.”

“Hey, you try being on my end of this, man. I usually don’t get in deep water without dive gear. It’s kinda nerve wracking when you can’t breathe.” Benny huffed. He’d sat down at the edge of the pool and scooted closer, but his grip on the dry spot didn’t give. Gair wasn’t pushing him though.

“It’ll be a few seconds y’can’t breathe, Ben. In an’ out quick as a flash. Then we can get all this over with.”

“Okay, okay, just... Give me a second.”

A few deep breaths and Benny slid forward, closing his eyes tight as the water rose around him. He popped back up a second later and shook his head to sling his now wet hair out of his face. 

“Ready to go?” Gair asked from beside him. 

Benny nodded and glanced toward the wall where the ocean drained out beneath. “Ready as I’m gonna get, I guess.” he mumbled.

“Alright then!” In a flash Gair disappeared beneath the water with hardly a sound. 

Benny watched his form circle below, already growing nervous. Before he could move the merman had risen beneath him and the diver felt himself lifted slightly. He felt Gair’s hands wrap around his ankles and instinctively threw his hands out to grab for purchase as he slid down the merman’s back, latching onto Gair’s shoulder’s with a tight grip. A few moments of shuffling for a comfortable place for the both of them and they were off, speeding toward the wall and going under with Benny just barely remembering to suck in a breath.

Seconds later he gasped as they surfaced and his eyes squinted against the bright sunlight up above.

“There ye be!” the booming voice from before called out. “Twas startin’ ta think ye weren’t comin’ out!”

Benny raised a hand to shield his eyes from the light and looked up at the owner of that voice. 

Then his head craned back and he kept looking up.

“Holy shit!” he squeaked.

The merman before him was absolutely massive- easily at least three times the size of Benny. His lower half, or at least what could be seen above the water, turned a pure milky white and seemed to be missing the glint of scales as everyone else had. Another differing sight was the fact that his pointed ears lacked fins. He also sported an impressive beard woven through with dulled fish hooks, silver line weights, and shiny spinner lures which gave the illusion of the entire thing being made of metal. A single large bright orange feather, dry due to what could only be magic, stuck up from his hair. 

Benny’s reaction caused the huge man to burst into laughter, a deep booming sound that sent ripples all around him in the water. Everyone else around them smiled in amusement.

“It be a long while since I got a reaction like that!” he said after his laughter died down to softer chuckles. “And what be your name, eh?”

“B-Benny! I’m... I’m Benny.”

“Well, Benny, me boy, I be Ahab! And it be a right fine pleasure meeting ye!”

“So,” Rex piped up, “is everyone already liking this guy enough to say screw this meeting? Because I think everyone’s already cast their vote on him.”

“Uh, duh. Pretty sure everyone’s in agreement.” Bruce said.

“Seems like a nice boy to me too!” Joker agreed from beside him.

“Well _I’ve_ been saying he’s great from the start!” Unikitty chirped.

“Yeah, he’s cool.” Lucy said. “What do you think, Ahab?”

“Aye. He seems like a good lad. And if Unikitty says he’s good then that be enough fer me.” Ahab agreed.

“Then that’s it!” Rex laughed. “Welcome to the team, kid!”

Benny’s face split into a wide grin. He’d been accepted. He wouldn’t lose his memories. 

“That’s it?” Bradley’s voice came out with a growl. All eyes turned to him and Benny felt his heart sink just a bit. The merman looked borderline furious. “Met him for mere minutes an’ that’s it? Let him walk free knowing our secrets?”

“What’s the problem with that, Bradley?” Lucy asked with a raised brow.

“What’s th’problem? Th’problem is you lot seem to have forgotten entirely what happened th’last time we trusted so easily! Y’ve all forgotten about Business!”

Silence. Happy expressions dipped all around and glances were exchanged. Benny felt Gair’s grip tighten around his ankles below the water. 

“This is just like how it went with him too.” Bradley continued. “He seemed like such a nice guy, didn’t he? Smiling and laughing and making friends with us? Getting close and earning our trust? Then doing what he did to Keelan?” He turned his head and growled while glaring down at the water. 

“But... But Benny wouldn’t do anything like that!” Unikitty protested. 

“We can’t be sure of that! And I, for one, don’t want t’take th’chance!” 

“Then what be ye suggestin’?” Ahab asked quietly after a moment.

There was no hesitation as Bradley’s head turned toward Benny. “Wipe his memory. Make him forget about all of this.” he growled.

\---

Benny sat silently at the edge of the pool and stared into the water. Gair had brought him back, told him to stay put, and left again to rejoin the group to discus his fate.

He didn’t entirely blame Bradley for pushing to make him forget. It sounded like a justified thing to do, though the diver didn’t fully agree with it either. He huffed out a sigh and let his head hang. He didn’t want to lose his memories.

“You okay, Benny?” a tiny concerned voice called to him.

Benny’s head turned to look up at the winged child from before and he tried to smile. It came out weak and obviously forced. “Not really.” he answered.

The boy nodded and sat beside him. “I don’t think we actually met. Padre told me your name though. My name’s Dick.”

“Nice to meet you.” Benny said. He wasn’t entirely sure what to say after that. Would it matter if the merrow decided to take his memories? But he didn’t need to be rude. It wasn’t the kid’s fault. He didn’t get to say anything else though because Alfred suddenly appeared in the doorway.

“Master Dick.” the butler called. “Master Bruce has asked me to take you to the gardens for a while. Everyone needs time to speak with Master Benny alone.”

Dick hopped to his feet quickly and scampered toward his grandpa, turning around to smile at Benny. “Bye, Benny! I’ll see you again real soon!” 

Then the two were gone.

The merrow began to appear in the pool shortly after Benny was left alone. As they surfaced he turned to face them and his heart sank. Grim expressions were worn all around. Unikitty looked like she’d been crying when she pulled herself from the pool. She didn’t bother changing her fish tail and sat dripping on the floor, ears tucked back and eyes downcast while she sniffled a few times. Benny couldn’t help scooting toward her and reaching out to give her head a gentle stroke. She leaned into the touch with a sad sigh.

Bradley’s disapproving scowl caught his eye. He turned so he wouldn’t see the man’s face.

“Can we just get this over with?” Benny mumbled, sure he knew what was coming. “Don’t drag it out. You guys don’t even know me.”

“But we wanted to.” Unikitty sniffed. “We wanted to be friends! But... But...”

“Kitty.” Rex warned gently. He’d come up to the edge of the pool and looked like he was warring with his emotions. Trying to cover a sad look with something tougher, but failing to hide it. “We already decided. C’mon. Just... Jeez...” He glanced up at Benny and frowned, brows knit tightly. “Sorry, kid.”

“Hey, it’s cool. Don’t worry about it. Maybe I’ll meet you guys again sometime?”

“Sure, kid. Maybe someday...” Rex’s eyes suddenly squeezed shut and he flipped back into the water without a word, speeding off into the open ocean. No one tried to stop him.

Benny sighed. He looked up again when he felt a weight on his shoulder and saw that Unikitty had rested a heavy paw there. Her horn had started to glow and the look on her face was all sadness.

“Goodbye, Benny.”

\---

Benny stood outside Bradley’s door, listening even though he knew he really shouldn’t be. This time he didn’t hear any voices. Just shuffling and a clatter followed by a muffled swear which made him grin. Bradley was lucky his mother wasn’t around to hear that.

He reached out to knock gently on the door. “You alright in there? You didn’t fall off your chair did you?”

A minute later the door opened and Bradley’s face poked out at him. The man looked like he’d bit a lemon. “No I didn’t fall out of my bloody chair, Ben. I dropped something is all.” He sounded snippier than he had earlier.

“You almost ready to go? I know you said little towns are boring, but I want to see everything that might be fun out there.”

Bradley’s sour expression curled further and he turned his head to glare at the rug on his floor. “Something came up. I’m not going out today.”

“Oh.” Benny tried not to look too disappointed. “Okay then. Maybe tomorrow?”

“We’ll see.”

“Okay.”

An awkward silence filled the space between them for a minute. Then Bradley shut the door without a word and left Benny standing alone in the hall. Benny sighed and reached up toward his neck to grab-

Wait, wasn’t he wearing a-

Then his fingers brushed against the chain and he sighed in relief. It would’ve been his luck to lose his necklace without noticing. He unclasped it and held it up to look at it, squinting at the little trinket with a small frown. Somehow it seemed wrong. It must have just been his imagination though.

He'd always worn a white shell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to list fish types for the rest of the introduced gang last chapter! So here they are:
> 
> Lucy is a crowntail betta
> 
> Rex is a barracuda
> 
> Ahab is a white sperm whale
> 
> Joker was based on a clownfish, but I've since discovered the harlequin tusk wrasse and decided it's a much better fit. It looks a bit like a clownfish, but has some wicked fangs!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter really was a massive block. Now that I'm back on track with the plot, I feel like I'll be able to write much more at a quicker pace.

Bradley didn’t end up wanting to go out into town the next day. Or the day after. Benny stopped asking after the third day.

He didn’t come out of his room much lately except to eat or to help his parents if they asked. Benny had thought they’d made at least a little progress toward friendship. What had happened to change things so drastically? Something didn’t feel right about the situation.

Dives had took a turn for the worse as well. The oyster bed Benny had found so many pearls at on his first run had turned up entirely empty the next time he’d gone below the waves. He wondered if other divers had found the spot too. But try as he did he couldn’t find shellfish anywhere. Ma and Pa had suggested waiting a few weeks before coming out again.

Benny sighed into his coffee.

He’d gone back out to the coffee shop in town, something he was starting to do more often, and sat alone at a table. Having time alone gave him time to think. Nothing seemed to be going right for him again. He hated having nothing to do, both for work and outside of it. He didn’t even have anyone to spend time with to shake up the lonely days spent wandering town. Maybe it was time he moved on from the sleepy little seaside town.

“Benny!”

His head jerked toward the door when that voice called out for him. Then he smiled and raised a hand to wave.

“Sirius!” he called back. “You’re back!”

The man walked over to his table and sat down across from him, smiling and leaning in a bit as if they’d known each other for years. Not that Benny minded. He was glad for the company.

“Business out of town ran longer than I expected it to. Risky told me you came to the shop looking for me. Sorry I wasn’t around.”

“Nah, man, it’s fine. I can’t even remember what I needed to find you for.” Benny frowned for a moment. He honestly couldn’t remember what he wanted to ask the other. Must not have been important. “I’m glad to see you though.”

They chatted for a while about nothing in particular, simply enjoying each other’s company and catching up on small talk. Sirius ordered himself a drink as well as a second cup for Benny. Then he learned of the diver’s thoughts of leaving the town.

“But what about your diving job? You seemed like you really liked it last time we spoke.” he said.

“I did, but,” Benny responded then sighed, “it’s like the oysters have just disappeared. The first time I went down they were everywhere. Then a few days ago I looked all over and couldn’t find even one. It’s crazy.”

Sirius looked like he’d gone into deep thought and he hummed quietly. “You’re not the kind of person who likes sitting around with nothing to do either are you?”

“Nope. I can’t stand not doing anything all day. That’s why I thought about leaving. Also one of the people I’m staying with seems like he hates me.”

“Oh. Tension and drama?”

“Mostly tension. I’m just feeling unwelcome lately.”

“Hmm...” Sirius took a long drink from his cup, something dark and smelling of chocolate, then set the cup down. A sudden smile took up his features. “If you had another job- one with more to do- would you consider staying?”

Benny blinked. Then he thought about it. He liked the town itself despite it being small. It really was just the sitting around that was throwing him off. “Maybe?” he answered. “But I’m not sure if I would be able to stay where I’m at if I didn’t work for them.”

Sirius made a dismissing noise and rolled his eyes. “There’s an apartment above the store Risky and I only use for storage. If you don’t mind the clutter you could stay there.”

“Really? You’d trust someone you barely know to live in a jewelry store?” Benny raised a brow at that.

Sirius only laughed, seemingly holding no concern at all. “Benny, Benny, Benny.” He snickered and took another sip of his drink. “You realize we’d know exactly who stole from us if anything went missing? And how fast we could have the police on you? I don’t need to trust you to let you stay as long as you’re smart.”

“Oh.” It made sense. “Huh. Okay then. What would the job include?”

“Taking inventory, making sales, register work, and things like that. You’d be surprised how many people come in for our jewelry. It’s rarely slow in there even for such a little place.” Then he seemed to hesitate with a thoughtful expression. “Some of our customers are a little... on the strange side, let’s say, but they’re relatively harmless.”

Benny had dealt with people of all kinds before, so he wasn’t concerned. Plus with some of the price tags he’d happened to see the one time he’d been in the shop he was sure the weirder customers would be rich folks from out of town. Rich people were always weird in some way or another. As long as they didn’t try to throw anything at him he was sure he’d be fine. Still...

“I can’t pay for the room.” he stated. “I don’t have much left to my name and my employers are still waiting for the payment for the last pearls to go through.”

“That’s fine. We wouldn’t ask for as much as an actual apartment costs anyway since most of the space is taken by boxes. Maybe just a bit for electricity and water to cover whatever you use while living there. And you can pay later if you need to.” Sirius said.

Benny sipped his drink, realized his cup was empty, and set it back down. It was a good offer. He’d have actual work, a place to stay, and company on a regular basis. He probably wouldn’t be allowed to keep the diving suit though which sucked a little bit. He still liked pretending that it was a space suit. But he’d have to leave it behind if he left town too so there was that.

“When would you want me to start?” he asked after a minute.

Sirius’s smile was almost blinding. He looked so excited at the idea of Benny taking his offer. “When would you want to? Risky and I could clear a few boxes tonight if you wanted to start even as early as tomorrow.”

“I’ll talk to my employers tonight about it and see how quickly they’d want me out once I quit.”

“Great! Just come to the store tomorrow and let me know what they say.” Then he raised an arm and peered down at a watch strapped to his wrist. “I’ve got to run now. I’ve already been out longer than I told Risky I’d be. Wouldn’t want him to start worrying.” He rose from his seat and paused. “So I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Benny nodded. “Yep! You’ll see me tomorrow!”

That blinding smile lit up his face again as Sirius walked off and out of the store. Benny couldn’t help smiling too.

Maybe things were looking up for him.

\---

The dinner table was quiet that night, but that wasn’t new. It had been almost silent every night for a week now.

Bradley absolutely refused to look at Benny. Benny tried to keep his eyes away from Bradley. Ma and Pa seemed concerned for both of them. 

Then Benny broke the silence. “I think I’ll be leaving soon.”

All eyes, even Bradley’s, suddenly turned toward him.

“You’re leaving, dear?” Ma asked. “But you haven’t even been around that long.”

“I just feel like my calling isn’t here. And the job’s not going very well. Not that I don’t like it, but if I have to wait long stretches before going back into the water it doesn’t seem very beneficial to anyone.” he answered.

“So you’re running away from th’job because it’s a little boring, eh?” Bradley asked. Why did it feel like he was purposely trying to poke at Benny’s buttons?

“I’m not running from anything.” Benny defended himself calmly. “It’s just not in your parents’ best interest to be housing me when I can’t pay them for the room or do the job they hired me for.”

“It’s not any trouble, Benny.” Pa said.

Benny turned toward him and smiled, but also shook his head. “It kind of is though. You guys are losing money if I dive and come back empty handed. And there’s no telling if the next time I go out will bring in anything either. I feel like it would be better for you if I go.”

“Hmph.” Bradley huffed. He couldn’t ignore the logic, but he also didn’t want Benny out of his sight. Mind wiped or not, Benny had seen their secrets and Bradley didn’t feel safe about letting him loose. “I don’t think y’should go anywhere.”

That made Benny pause. He grew a confused look and stared at the other. “Why not?”

“Because y’shouldn’t.”

A flat expression greeted the answer and Bradley felt his ear fins trying to flare under his helmet.

“Well as enlightening as that argument was, I’m still leaving.” Benny said. “I’ll still be in town though.”

That seemed to placate Bradley a bit. Benny had no idea why though. Unknown to him Bradley felt that if Benny at least stayed in town he could keep an eye on him.

“What will you do for work then? There aren’t many shops looking to hire here.” Ma said after a few seconds.

Benny smiled. “I’ve already got another job lined up actually. Sorry I couldn’t tell you before, but I just got offered earlier while I was out.”

“Oh?” Ma looked surprised. “Well that’s good. Where will you be working, dear?”

“At the jewelry store.”

Bradley’s fork hit his plate with a loud clatter and Benny looked up to find the man glaring at him. 

“Th’jewelry store?” he growled. “Tell me there’s a new one and that y’won’t be working for _Business_.”

Benny found himself frowning. “So what if I will be?”

“Absolutely not.” Bradley’s growl ramped up. “Y’aren’t allowed t’work for Business.”

“You’re not the boss of me, Bradley.” 

“Now, boys...” Pa tried, but was cut off as Bradley’s voice rose.

“Y’can’t go over there and y’_won’t_!”

“Says who? _You_?” Benny scoffed. “You don’t get to decide that, Bradley.”

“Y’live in _my_ home, Ben! Y’follow _my_ rules!” Bradley snarled. “And I _forbid_ y’t’go t’_him_!”

There was silence in the half second that Bradley’s booming voice rang through the air. Benny stared at him with raised brows and a truly shocked expression. Slowly it fell into disbelief.

“You forbid...” Benny whispered. Then anger settled over his face and he shoved himself out of his chair. His voice was still quiet when next he spoke, but there was a tidal wave of fury bubbling just below the surface. “You’ve been avoiding me for a week for no reason then suddenly you think you can tell me what to do? You’ve got some kind of nerve, man.”

“Benny...” Pa began to speak, but Ma reached over to put a hand on his shoulder. When he looked her way she shook her head. This wasn’t their fight to get into.

“I’m leaving.” Benny started again. “So thank you, Ma and Pa, for everything.” Then he stormed away from the table.

“Don’t y’walk away from me, Ben!” Bradley snapped, wheeling himself around quickly. Something in his head yelled at him to stop, but he never had listened to that little voice. 

Benny didn’t stop. He stormed down the hall, hearing Bradley come after him a second later, and slammed the door to his room shut. He managed to click the lock just before the other rattled the knob from outside. Benny rolled his eyes as screaming and swearing reached his ears. He had no idea what had Bradley whipped so out of shape over this and honestly he was done trying to figure the man out. Let him be mad. Let him scream and rage about it. Benny wouldn’t be around much longer to hear it.

He packed his few belongings in his backpack and slung it over his shoulders. Rather than try to get past the angry man outside his door he turned his attention to the window at the side of the room. It was dark outside, but he’d managed it before. There was no screen behind the glass either which worked in his favor.

By the time Bradley picked the lock on the door, disappointing his parents in the process, Benny was long gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bradley can easily find Benny again, but at what cost?


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This filler episode brought to you by Rex Dangervest.

The jewelry store was closed by the time Benny made it there. The lights were all off too which told him that no one was still somewhere inside. He guessed it was too much to have hoped to catch one of the Business brothers that night. With a sigh he turned and looked around.

Most of the shop lights up and down the road were off for the night. The few that were open held nothing interesting to him. Further away the reflection of the moon on the surface of the ocean caught his eye. It was a warmer evening so maybe a stroll down the beach would cool off some of the lingering anger he held. If nothing else it would pass some time.

The evening was warm and the breeze that blew off the waves was pleasant. Benny took his shoes off and walked along the edge of the water where the sand was damp and gently rolling waves lapped over his feet now and then. It was peaceful and quiet. He stopped after walking for a while and faced the waves, closing his eyes and breathing in deeply.

“Benny?”

The unfamiliar voice had him turning toward the figure walking toward him and his eyes narrowed. Even in the dark the glow of the moon gave him enough light to see the other. Tall, chiseled features, dark messy fluff of hair, and a smile that brightened when he stopped a few feet away. Benny had no idea who the man was.

“How do you know my name?” he asked curiously.

A split second look of something like sadness crossed the man’s face. Then his smile bounced back and he laughed. Benny wasn’t sure what was funny.

“Your name’s all over town, kid. Word travels fast when new people move in and you’re the only new face anyone’s seen.” the man explained. “What’re you doing out so late? You enjoy the ocean that much?”

Benny shrugged and shuffled in place. “Had a fight with my roommate about moving out. I’m walking off the anger.”

“Ah.” The other nodded in understanding. “Need a place to crash for the night? My bro has an open couch he wouldn’t mind you using.”

It was a strange offer out of the blue from a total stranger, but something in the back of Benny’s mind told him there was no danger. He felt like he knew this man from somewhere, yet also knew that he’d never met the man before in his life. If he thought about it his head started to hurt.

“You sure?” he asked. “I don’t wanna show up and get yelled at or something.”

“Pssh! Nah, I’m sure. My bro’s pretty chill. He wouldn’t yell at anyone.”

“Hmm.” What was the worst that could happen? “Alright then. Lead the way, mystery man.”

Benny smiled in amusement as the stranger’s head tilted and a confused look crossed his features. Then he seemed to catch on and his smile turned a bit sheepish.

“Guess I should’ve introduced myself first, huh?” he chuckled. “The name’s Rex.”

“Okay then, Rex. Lead the way.”

\---

Rex hadn’t been kidding about his friend being chill. He’d burst through the door of a cute little yellow house near the end of the beach (far away from Bradley’s house Benny was glad to report) and had yelled our for the other. It had been a very loud entrance and Benny had quietly shut the door behind himself while trying not to add to the noise. Despite the loud entrance and the unexpected guest, the young man who came to greet them offered a wide excited smile and had readily agreed to letting Benny stay the night.

“We don’t get visitors often.” Rex had told him. “Emmet’s always so excited for company.”

“That’s adorable.” Benny had commented. Rex had laughed and agreed.

Shoes and bag sitting by the door, Benny had wasted no time getting comfortable on the fluffy couch Emmet offered along with two pillows and a blanket. He had no desire to actually sleep yet though and the other two had suggested watching a movie to pass the time. Rex sat at the other end of the couch opposite to Benny and Emmet had stayed on the floor after popping a movie into the player, laying on his stomach with his hands propping up his head and kicking his feet in the air like a child. 

The movie was animated and had something to do with toy building bricks and had a strangely catchy song that Emmet happily sang along with. Benny was only really half paying attention to the film though. He’d been more interested side eyeing Rex and watching him mouthing the words through the entire movie. Rex’s expressions changed rapidly and his hands twitched at his sides while he silently recited the movie as if he was used to waving them around and acting out the scenes. He must have been holding back because of their guest. So with an amused grin Benny reached over to nudge him, hiding a snicker when the other’s face turned bright red at being caught. 

Benny mouthed the word ‘cute’ and watched a shy little smile tug at Rex’s lips. Then he turned his eyes back to the screen and began mouthing the words again, this time waving his arms wildly as he acted things out just like Benny thought he would.

The movie ended up having a sequel which Emmet dove to put on before waiting to see if the other two even wanted to watch it. Neither of them minded though. Rex acted this one out too and Benny’s eyes ping-ponged back and forth from the film to the actor beside him. This one was more of a sing along than the first and Emmet’s voice, loud and unashamed, rang out alongside every song played. The twist ending had actually surprised Benny. During one of the final scenes he was shocked to see Rex wiping his eyes with the edge of his sleeve, sniffling as he turned his head from the screen.

“Whoa.” Benny whispered. “Are you crying?”

“No.” Rex whispered back as a stray tear fell down his cheek. “...yes.”

“Rex always gets emotional at that scene.” Emmet piped up. He hadn’t looked away from the screen while the rest of the film played. “No matter how many times he’s watched it with me.”

Rex pouted at that, but didn’t deny it. “He went years thinking his friends had abandoned him to rot on that planet all alone, but someone rescued his past self. He didn’t even get a chance at redemption. Just disappeared from existence. It’s sad, okay?”

Benny reached over and patted the other’s shoulder, smiling when those teary eyes looked his way. “But it’s supposed to be happy too, right? The main guy’s girlfriend rescued him so he won’t have to turn into that bitter future version of himself. And, hey, maybe the future guy didn’t disappear from existence. Maybe he just got sent back to his own timeline where everything turned out better since his past self was rescued.”

The other two stared at him quietly for a minute, Rex with a thoughtful look and Emmet with a wide smile. 

“I like that idea.” Rex finally said. He wiped his eyes one last time then smiled and laughed out loud. “You’re pretty alright, kid.”

“You guys wanna watch another movie?” Emmet asked. There were already several more held in his hands and the puppy-eyed expression he sported was impossible to say no to.

Benny was impressed with the collection of movies made in the building brick universe. They weren’t connected with the first two, but a superhero from them did have his own movie. Then there was one about kid ninjas and a giant realistic cat attacking their city. For kid’s movies Benny thought they were actually incredibly entertaining. By the end of the last one though he could hardly keep his eyes open.

“Emmet, buddy,” Rex said, “I think that’s enough for one night, don’t you?”

Emmet paused halfway to putting another movie in and frowned slightly. Then he caught sight of Benny drooping on the couch and turned off the tv. “Yeah, sorry. I didn’t think it was getting that late already.”

“It’s two in the morning, bro.” Rex replied with a chuckle.

“Oh my jee-oh-ess-aych! Is it really?” Emmet glanced at a clock on the wall and gasped dramatically. “_I had no idea_!”

“Bed time.” Benny mumbled, already half slumped into his pillows. By the time he nodded off the other two had excused themselves from the room. He missed the twin looks of concern when they left.

\---

Eavesdropping had gotten him in trouble before, but Benny couldn’t stop.

He’d woken only hours after falling sleep, never one to stay asleep for long, and had caught a peek of Rex standing by the front door with a phone pressed to his ear. Benny had closed his eyes quickly and stayed still while pretending to sleep in order to listen to the silent one sided conversation.

“No, he’s fine.” A short pause. If Benny strained and listened hard he could just make out a mumbling noise signalling someone talking on the other line. “Found him on the beach. What even happened?” A longer pause. Rex sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “You didn’t. He’s... No, you idiot, he’s not going to go back after that. Pretty sure you blew it there.”

Benny had no idea what was being discussed, but he had a good idea that it was about him. He also had a good idea who was on the other end of that phone call.

“You’re not coming over!” Rex’s voice got louder before he got himself back under control. “Look, after that rant you do? No one wants to be around you. Give him time to cool off. Or, better yet, give me time to cool him off, eh?”

The mumbling voice on the other end suddenly grew in volume. Benny could almost make out the swearing he just knew was being thrown out.

“Shh! Shh! Shut up!” Rex hissed into the phone. “Are _you_ currently wooing him? Huh?” Absolute silence came from the other end followed by what could have been a slight noise of disgust. “Didn’t think so. Don’t get mad if the Rex brand charm reels him in, man.”

Benny almost gave himself away- the need to laugh bubbling up. He disguised it with a snort and shifted on the couch, burying his face into his pillow and smiling in amusement.

“I think he’s waking up. Later, Copperson.”

Benny listened to Rex’s footsteps slowly move away from the door. Once he figured the man was far enough away he allowed himself to giggle into the pillow, pressing it against his face to muffle the noise. He couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. In a good way, of course. Rex was good looking, sensitive, and had a good sense of humor. Benny wouldn’t mind getting to know him. He couldn’t let on that he’d heard that phone conversation though.

\---

“Morning, kid.” Rex greeted as Benny shuffled into the kitchen.

He’d ended up falling back to sleep a while after eavesdropping, but Emmet had gotten up bright and early and woken him. He’d apologized profusely afterword, having forgotten about their guest on the couch. Benny was up for the day, but half asleep. It was nice to find a cup of coffee being pressed into his hands without so much as a word about it. A single sip had his eyes popping open and he glanced down at the chocolate colored liquid.

“Emmet makes it sweet.” Rex explained. His own cup was the same color and he took a swig with a satisfied sound. “Just a touch of cream a heck of a lot of sugar.”

The morning spent with the two included more overly sweet coffee, waffles courtesy of Emmet, and chatter about what to do with the day. 

“I’ll be heading to the jewelry store soon.” Benny told them. “I’ve got a job lined up there and I’ll be renting a room above the store. I’d like to be there soon after they open to talk to the owners.”

“From pearl diver to jewelry seller, huh? What a career flip.” Rex said with a chuckle. “I’d say be careful working for those two though. They’ve got a bit of a reputation in town as no good weirdos.”

Benny frowned thoughtfully behind his coffee. “If people think they’re no good then how do they stay in business?”

“They sell mostly to outsiders.” Emmet supplied helpfully. 

“Yeah. Lots of people from out of town come to buy their work. You’ll see a lot of weird people working there.” Rex added. “And another warning for you? Bradley might pop in at some point. I had a talk with him on the phone last night and heard what happened. Don’t take it personal, kid. That guy’s got a few screws loose if you ask me.”

“He’s definitely got issues.” Benny agreed. “Like what’s even his deal? You’re his friend, right?”

“Eh.” Rex made a see-saw motion with a hand. “Borderline. Emmet knows him more than me.”

“Bradley’s temperamental around this time of year is all.” the younger man piped up. “Early spring is rough since he’s a loner and it’s almost time for- uh.”

The other two stared at him. Rex’s head was turned so Benny couldn’t see his face and his eyes were wide with a warning look aimed at Emmet. 

Benny was just a touch confused. “It’s time for what?” he asked.

“Nothing, kid.” Rex answered first. “It’s just a bad time of year for him is all. Don’t worry too much about it. Now, how about I walk you down to the jewelers? It’s just about time for the store to open.”

Benny nodded with a smile, glad for the idea of company on the trip. He was curious over what Emmet hadn’t said, but he’d figure it out sooner or later. After all, he planned on confronting Bradley at some point and getting an answer out of him one way or another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sleepovers at the Brickowski/Dangervest house will include binge watching several LEGO movies if Emmet has any say in it.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little shorter this time, but it needed to end where it did. Next chapter may be short as well, but we're getting closer to the real meat of the plot.

Benny didn’t need to wait for a confrontation as it turned out.

After he and Rex had gotten ready to leave, opening the front door had revealed Bradley sitting just outside. His fist had been raised as if caught just before knocking and a surprised look had crossed his face. Until he caught sight of Benny. Then the surprise had quickly faded to be replaced with a straight poker face.

“Ben.” he’d said flatly.

“Brad.” Benny had replied with the same tone.

Rex’s eyes ping-ponged between the two and he crossed his arms over his chest while putting on a stern expression and fixing Bradley under it. “I thought I told you not to come over here, Copperson.”

Bradley’s attention flicked over to the other man. “Thought y’just meant not t’come last night. Thought it’d be alright t’come over in th’morning.”

“That depends.” Rex raised a brow questioningly. “You here to start shit?”

The helmeted man turned his head, finally breaking eye contact with Benny in favor of staring out at the sea, and his jaw tightened as his teeth clenched. After a few seconds his jaw relaxed and he turned to look back at them. When he spoke his voice was even, but it seemed to be forced that way. “No. I just want t’talk t’Ben.”

“Well whatever you have to say can be said in front of me too.” Rex stated. He then turned his head back toward the inside of the house and raised his voice. “We’re heading out now, Emmet! Later, gator!”

“In a while, crocodile!” came Emmet’s answering call.

“Cute.” Benny whispered.

Bradley’s hands tightened on his chair’s wheels for a fraction of a second. “Y’know I don’t do well talking t’crowds, Dangervest.” he grumbled.

“Two’s not a crowd. And tough shit.” Rex’s stern expression was back and fixed on the seated man again. “After what you told me went on last night I don’t think you two should be alone. Let’s walk and talk, huh?”

Without waiting for a reply he stepped past Bradley and took a few steps down the path from the house toward the town. He paused to wait until Benny joined him, watching the split second motion of Bradley making to grab the diver’s wrist when he went by. Thankfully he seemed to catch himself and jerked his hand back to his wheel before touching the other. And with a deep sigh he joined the two and they began slowly making their way toward town.

“I still say y’shouldn’t go there, Ben.” Bradley finally broke the silence after a few minutes.

Benny’s expression pinched, something trying not to be annoyance or anger, and he made a non-committal hum. 

“I’m serious.” Bradley continued, refusing to drop the subject. “Those two are bad news. They’ll sweep y’up in their affairs an’ th’next thing y’know you’ll be in hot water.”

Rex’s eyes shot toward him and his face took on the look of someone who’d bit into a lemon, but he didn’t say anything this time. 

Benny, however, scoffed at that. “I’m not stupid, Brad. Despite what you seem to think.”

“I didn’t say y’were-”

“Yeah, well, you act like it.” He didn’t mean to snap, but he wouldn’t apologize for it.

Bradley’s jaw tightened again and for a moment it looked like he would start yelling. Then he sucked in a sharp breath, closed his eyes, and released it slowly through his nose. He didn’t look any calmer, but his voice stayed even when next he spoke. “You’re right. I know I can be a right ass. ‘m sorry, Ben.”

That was a surprise.

Benny paused after that and his anger instantly snuffed out. Bradley’s eyes were firmly fixed off to one side and his posture screamed discomfort, but he’d been completely honest there. Benny could hear it in his voice. The diver sighed quietly and tried for a half smile.

“That’s all I wanted to hear, man.” he said. “How about we put the stupid fighting behind us now and go back to being somewhat friendly with each other?”

The other man glanced up at that and a hint of a smile tugged at his lips. “I like th’sound of that.” he nearly mumbled.

“Okay, so we’re all good?” Rex asked, making the other two jump. They’d momentarily forgotten he was there. “Awesome! Now kiss and make up!”

Bradley’s entire face lit up tomato red while Benny burst into laughter. Rex simply stood grinning and looking quite proud of himself.

“Dude.” Benny managed as his laughter died down to giggling. “Dude, no.”

“Oh, what, you don’t wanna mack on that?” Rex teased. 

Bradley sputtered and somehow turned even redder.

Benny snorted and held a hand up to his mouth as if telling a secret, yet his volume remained the same. “He’s straight, Rex. I can’t.” A pause to let out another giggle. “I can’t kiss a straight guy. I’ll get punched.”

That made Rex raise a brow, but the grin that suddenly morphed from his simple smile had far too much glee attached to it. “I can’t say you wouldn’t still get punched, but who told you Copperson was straight?” He looked at the chair-bound man and crossed his arms loosely while his head leaned to one side. “’cause that’s news to me.”

“Can it, Dangervest. I’ve hit my embarrassment quota already.” 

The two began to pick at each other lightly, but Benny had gone into a slightly shocked state. Had he been judging Bradley the whole time? Could he have been _flirting_ with the man the entire time? Now he felt foolish.

“Hey, kid.” Rex’s voice jolted him back to reality and he jumped.

“Huh?” 

“Just ‘cause you know he’s on the menu now doesn’t mean you can ignore me, alright?” It sounded like he was playing it off as a joke, but Benny caught an actual hint of second guessing on Rex’s face. 

“Sorry.” Benny apologized sheepishly. “Just zoned out for a second.”

“Well can y’stay in focus now? We’ve still got t’get t’that store before I decide t’deck Dangervest.” Bradley sighed. 

\---

When the three arrived to the jewelry shop they were greeted at the door by Siruis. Bradley hadn’t come inside, mumbling about the florescent lights hurting his eyes. Rex had stepped back out after making sure that Benny would be alright on his own. He made a promise to swing back by in the evening to see if he needed anything then left the store to catch up with Bradley.

The two walked side by side in silence for a few minutes down the sidewalk toward the beach. At the end of the path they both stopped and stared out at the ocean. Bradley was the first to break the silence with a clearing of his throat.

“I can’t wheel through th’sand.” he said quietly.

Rex didn’t need to hear the question to know it was being asked. With a few steps he got behind the wheelchair, took hold of the handles, and carefully guided it down toward the waves. Bradley’s hands folded in his lap and he brushed his fingers along the shape of one of the patrol cars on his blanket.

Once they’d gotten down to where the water lapped at the sand they stopped. Rex stepped back around to stand beside the other and his hands went into his pockets. The next wave came further than usual and Rex sucked in a breath when the water licked over his feet.

Bradley stared at him with a hard to read expression. “Doesn’t it hurt after so long?” he asked quietly.

“Sure it does.” Rex responded after a minute. “But I’m not ready to go back yet. I’ll soak in the tub when I get back to Emmet’s, don’t worry. I really want to get to know him.”

“I’m sorry I pushed so hard.” Bradley sighed and hung his head, making the motion to run a hand through his hair only for his helmet to stop him. “It wasn’t fair t’th’rest of you.”

“It wasn’t.” Rex agreed. “But it’s over and done with now. Not much we can do about it. Kitty’s magic doesn’t go in reverse for memories.”

Bradley debated with himself. He’d been acting on anger from the past when he’d pushed to wipe Benny’s memories, but now that his head was clearer he realized he’d been wrong. Benny wasn’t a bad person, but what had happened had left such a bad scar on his heart that he couldn’t bring himself to trust again. Maybe he’d been thinking all wrong that way. And he decided on something then and there

“It doesn’t really need to.” he said. “But he can always make new memories.”

Rex glanced up at him in surprise. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

The other nodded and side-eyed Rex. “You can be th’one t’tell him if you’d like.”

“Can I tell him tonight?” Rex’s voice was filling with excitement at the thought.

“That’s up t’you, Dangervest.”

“Oh, _fuck yeah_! I’ll get him to come back over to Emmet’s with me when I check on him and... figure out how I’m going to tell him later. But I’m totally telling him tonight!”

Bradley shook his head slowly, but smiled all the same. “Just don’t scare him off.”

Rex chuckled and grinned. Then he paused and a thoughtful look crossed his features. “You know... I’d bet he’d get along great with Keelan.”

Beside him he watched Bradley tense. The man’s jaw worked and he white-knuckled his wheels before forcing himself to calm down again. That didn’t stop him from shooting a nasty glare at his companion. “Let’s see how he handles _you_ first. I won’t take chances with my family.”

“Just a suggestion. I really do think they’d get along great though. It might be good for both of them if they met. Benny seems like he’d handle everything well.”

Bradley’s head turned so he was facing the open ocean. “...we’ll see.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I very nearly made Benny do something he would've regretted before deciding that Bradley was going to apologize.
> 
> Coming up next time: Benny and Risky have a chat about necklaces, Bradley has a chat with his brothers, and Rex takes a bath.


	12. Chapter 12

After Rex left the store, Sirius took to showing Benny around his new workplace. The actual shop wasn’t very big so it didn’t take much time at all, but once Sirius began to point out what pieces were set up in which of the many displays around them the time began to fly. 

“I know it’s a lot to take in,” Sirius said, “but it’s not like we’ll leave you alone on your first day. One of us is always on the sales floor so we’re just a quick holler away if you ever need us.”

“That’s good to know because all of this? It’s honestly confusing.” Benny said. “I had no idea there were so many types of jewelry. I thought you were kidding when you told me there were multiple names for necklaces just based on how long they are.”

Sirius hummed in amusement and nodded his head. “Don’t worry too much. You’ll get it eventually. It took Risky and I a good while to learn the difference between a matinee and a lariat after all.”

“The only one I can point out so far are the chokers.”

“Like I said, you’ll get it eventually. Now how about we stop talking about work and I show you the apartment?”

Benny smiled and nodded enthusiastically. “That would be great!”

Sirius took the lead again and guided his new employee into a back storage room. There a simple ladder was propped up against the wall out of the way, a dark hole in the ceiling at the top.

“We don’t usually close the trapdoor,” Sirius said, “but you’re welcome to at night. Just mind the mess up here.” He then climbed up into the darkness and flipped on a light. “Alright, come on up!”

Benny took his time climbing, the ladder proving slightly rickety, but soon enough poked his head over the top to peer around the area. The immediate room was large and mostly filled with totes and boxes which Sirius was shuffling toward a single corner. Benny quickly got himself fully into the room and began to assist in the move.

“It’s mostly empty aside from the boxes.” Sirius explained. “But we can get you a futon or something until we can get an actual bed up here.”

“I think I might be able to stay with my friend again tonight so there’s no rush.” Benny said.

“Oh, well that’s good!”

The two went back to shuffling boxes out of the way and chatted pleasantly about nothing in particular. Benny talked about his making up with Bradley and about making new friends. Sirius talked about how he and Risky were glad to have another helper around the shop and how he would have to get Benny to try making a few pieces of his own. Time quickly flew by while they worked and they only stopped when a voice from below the ladder called up to them.

“Sirius!” Risky’s voice came. “I’ve been looking for you! Get down here and help me out!”

“Uh oh. He caught us.” Sirius whispered with a smile. Then he called back. “I was clearing space for Benny!”

“What? Is he here? And you didn’t let me know?”

Sirius and Benny scaled down the ladder to be faced with the elder Business brother who smiled warmly. “Great to see you again.” he greeted.

“Nice to see you too, Risky.” Benny said.

Risky’s eyes darted downward, back up, then his brows raised and he glanced down again. “I thought you said you were keeping that scale, Benny. Why’d you change it?”

Benny frowned slightly and reached up to fiddle with the white scale around his neck. “I didn’t change it. It’s the same scale as before.”

“But it’s white.” Risky pointed out.

“Yeah? It’s always been white?”

Risky’s brows furrowed deeply then. He glanced at Sirius and the two had a silent conversation which left their guest confused. After a short while Risky wordlessly took off.

“What was that about?” Benny asked in confusion.

Business waved a hand as if to dismiss it. “Eh. That’s just Risky. Don’t worry about it.” Then he smiled and clapped his hands once. “Now how about I show you how to stock the floor?”

\---

The day passed quickly with Sirius teaching and chatting. Risky stayed hidden away somewhere for the remainder of the day which Benny found odd, but Sirius swore that his brother just did that sometimes. It was nothing to worry himself over. Benny hadn’t entirely believed that, but he also hadn’t wanted to start a fight so he let it drop. After that he simply kept absorbing information given to him until the bell above the front door rang out.

“Hey, Benny!” Rex greeted as he stepped inside. “Back to check on you just like I said.”

Benny smiled at him and almost let out a sigh of relief seeing him. If he tried to remember one more term for one more piece of jewelry that day he was going to explode. “Boy am I glad to see you. You mind if I go for the day, Sirius?”

“Not at all.” Sirius replied. “Just be back sometime in the morning, alright? I need to get you to sign some paperwork for the job.”

“Will do. See you tomorrow! Tell Risky I said bye too!”

Then Benny and Rex left the shop together. It was a warm day and the two found themselves wandering down toward the ocean, soon walking along in the sand. For a while they stuck to a comfortable silence. Then Benny spoke. “Hey, I know it might be sudden, but do you think Emmet would let me stay over again tonight?”

Rex’s expression lit up and he laughed. “I was actually going to ask you if you wanted to stay again! Em and I enjoyed having company.”

“Oh, well then that works out great!” Benny chuckled.

\---

“Really?”

Bradley smiled as he watched his brother’s expression pull into beaming joy. He knew if he’d been in the water with the other he’d have been tackled and crushed in a hug. As it was, Gair’s ear fins flicked back and forth rapidly in his excitement.

“Oh, it’s going to be so nice having him around again!”

“Gair. Y’barely even met him.”

“I know, I know, but he left a good impression. It’ll be nice _getting_ to know him.” Gair’s sunny smile dipped slightly then and he let out a tiny sigh. “I do wish the seasons would change already though. Spring is terrible for meeting new people.”

“Y’are single though. An’ so’s he.”

“And so are _you_, Bradley.”

Bradley groaned. “Don’t remind me. Dangervest let that little detail slip t’Ben an’ I swear I could see th’gears turning in his head. It’s going to be a nightmare of a season if he starts flirting with me.”

His brother chuckled in amusement. “You could always flirt back, you know. If he’s going to relearn about us anyway maybe he’ll be open to the idea. Maybe you’ll finally be able to blow off some steam and stop being such a grump.”

“Don’t make me come in there after you, Gairbith. I will cuff your fins. Don’t think I won’t.”

A laugh was the only response given.

\---

“He’s hiding something, Sirius.” Risky mumbled.

Shortly after Benny had left, Sirius had locked up the shop and had gone to find his older brother. The man had been hunched over a crafting table in their back room with his head between his hands as he stared down at a black scale. It was the same in every way to the one they’d seen Benny wearing, but this one had a gash across the center that almost split it in half. 

“It doesn’t take much to know that one he had today was a fake.” Sirius pointed out. “The question is why.”

“I have an idea as to why, but no proof to back it up.” Risky slowly sat up straighter in his chair. “Maybe we should sit him down and have a little chat. Explain a few things. See if he knows more than he thinks.”

“I have a good feeling we could pull him onto our side.”

“Oh, no doubt! He seems like a smart kid. As soon as we let him in on our secrets I just know he’ll understand.”

\---

Rex stood outside the tub clad in nothing but a towel and stared down at the water. Steam curled above the surface and he could see wisps of dissolving sea salt at the bottom. He didn’t need the salt, but it gave the comfort of being like the ocean. Not that the ocean was ever this warm. That was just a luxury he rarely got to partake in. But now that his bath was drawn and ready he had a new issue.

How was he going to pull this off without it being massively awkward or read completely wrong?

He could call Benny in, jump in the tub and change his form, and the human could respond positively. Best case scenario.

Or he could call Benny in and be accused of trying to make a move. Or Benny could come in and Rex jump into the tub to change forms and the human could have a bad reaction. He could pull out a phone to take a picture or a video. He could run out of the house and tell someone. So many things could go wrong. Yet Rex still wanted to give this a shot. He had Emmet standing by ready to spin his magic laced words to stop Benny from leaving the house and he just had to believe that that would be enough. Once he changed he wouldn’t be able to give chase himself after all.

The merman took a deep breath and turned away from the tub. He walked over to the door and pulled it open, striding out with only a towel wrapped around his waist. “Hey, Benny? Mind coming here for a sec?”

From the kitchen he could hear a chair scraping the floor as it was pushed out. Then footsteps nearing. Benny rounded the corner a second later and Rex grinned seeing the human’s eyes go wide before suddenly finding the ceiling interesting. Benny’s cheeks had flushed bright and he looked like he was fighting not to look down again.

“Sorry, sorry.” Rex chuckled, feeling very much not sorry. “Just need some help in the bathroom.”

“Uh?” Benny’s eyes flicked away from the ceiling and very firmly locked onto Rex’s face. “And... you need my help?”

“Yep.”

Benny glanced back toward the kitchen, debating on calling for Emmet. But then he frowned and turned back to Rex. “I’m not looking to move that fast, Rex.”

Rex frowned slightly and his brow furrowed only to suddenly raise once his brain caught onto the meaning of those words. “No, not like that! Promise! I just... okay, it sounds weird, but I have to show you something. Nothing weird, I swear.”

Benny was skeptical, but eventually followed the other into the bathroom. He frowned seeing the full tub and glanced at Rex with a worryingly distrusting look. 

“Just trust me? Please?” Rex was getting second doubts. Maybe he should’ve eased Benny into the situation. Maybe taken more time to earn his trust. As far as the human knew they’d only just met a day ago. “This is going to be... really weird for you. Probably. Um.”

“Rex.” Benny’s arms crossed and he leaned his weight onto one leg, frowning at the other. “Just show me whatever it is you need to show me and get it over with. But I’m staying right here in the doorway.”

“Fair enough. I don’t need you to be real close to see this. Just... keep an open mind, I guess.” 

Rex turned toward the tub and Benny waited for the towel to drop, but was surprised when the man made to climb in while holding the edge firmly shut to keep it around his hips. Not that Benny was disappointed. It was actually slightly relieving. However, he had to turn his eyes away from the tub when Rex’s eyes slipped shut and he let out a moan. He’d tried to hide it, pressing a hand to his mouth, but it hadn’t stopped the sound from escaping.

“Sorry.” he practically gasped. “You don’t... You don’t have to actually watch me... I’ll tell you when to t-turn around.” Then he _whimpered_.

“Okay, hands up!” Benny suddenly snapped. His face had gone bright cherry red and there was a stirring in his lower gut reacting to Rex’s sounds that he was trying very hard to ignore. “I swear I’m two seconds from leaving, Rex!”

Instantly Rex’s arms were up in the air. He turned wide pleading eyes Benny’s way and opened his mouth to say something, but all that came out was a sudden gasp. His hands then shot to the sides of the tub and his head flung back, hitting the edge with a thunk that didn’t seem to bother him at all. His breathing began to speed up, coming out in little gasps and whines that made Benny want to bolt. But the one thing that kept him rooted to the spot was the small view he had over the edge of the tub where he could just barely see a section of Rex’s leg. The skin there was darkening rapidly in a way that was very much unnatural.

He didn’t give himself time to think about what he was doing before taking the few steps needed to seal the space between himself and the tub. When he peered into the water he felt the color drain from him face. Like a splash of ice cold water had been dumped on him, he sobered. And like watching a car wreck, he couldn’t look away.

The skin on Rex’s legs up to his waist had darkened and continued to darken while Benny watched. Then it was like the man began to melt- skin rippling and bones shifting beneath the surface. One of his hands had come off the edge of the tub to clamp over his mouth, a higher pitched moan letting loose behind it, and Rex’s eyes screwed tightly shut. Benny quickly turned away, dry heaved twice, and made a bolt for the door.

Strong arms caught him the instant he was past the door frame.

“Don’t panic!” Emmet’s voice reached his ears. “Just calm down, Benny. I know it looks bad, but I swear it’s fine.”

Benny’s head whipped to the side to stare at Emmet as if he’d gone crazy. “Rex is _melting_ in the tub and his skin is turning black! That’s not fine!”

Suddenly Rex let loose a scream that turned Benny’s legs to jelly. 

“It’s over now. It’s alright. Just don’t freak out.” Emmet’s voice had taken on a soothing quality and Benny found himself actually beginning to relax while he spoke. He had no idea how with what had just happened. And then he found himself being practically dragged back into the bathroom, legs still too like jelly to stand on his own. He dared to take a glance toward the tub and instantly froze.

Rex’s head was turned his way, eyes half lidded with a dopey smile curling his lips. His breath was still coming in short pants, but other than that he looked fine. But that wasn’t what had frozen Benny. What had caused him to freeze was the sight of the sharp looking fins poking out of Rex’s fluffy hair and, after a sudden movement made him look down, the long finned thing hanging half out of the tub. Dark blue, almost black, adorned with lime green striping and a pale cream lining the top. Or bottom, as it were, since the thing was connected to the man laying on his back in the tub.

Benny’s mind tried to process the image before him. Wide eyes scanned over Rex slowly to take in every inch of him. The towel was still covering a section of his waist, but it couldn’t hide this.

“You’re...” Benny finally breathed. “Y-You’re a...”

“Yeah.” Rex simply said after a breathy chuckle. “I am.”

“Holy shit.”

“Yep.”

“I’m gonna set you down now, okay?” Emmet asked before doing so, careful not to let Benny fall over. He slumped against the tub instead.

The three stayed as they were for a while- Rex catching his breath after his transformation, Benny getting feeling back in his legs while staring, and Emmet standing by to either help either of them or stop Benny should he try to run.

Eventually Benny was the first to make a move. He rose to his knees slowly, gripping the edge of the tub for support, and peered into the water at Rex’s tail. “Wow... That’s... That’s incredible...”

“You can touch if you want.” Rex said with a lazy grin. He shifted onto his side to face Benny and the movement pulled his dorsal fin from beneath him. He groaned when it was freed then sighed in relief. “That’s better.”

Benny laughed, a little breathless, and shook his head. “You’re actually a mermaid.”

“Merman, kid. I’m no woman.” Rex chuckled again. “And, yeah, this is the real deal. Sorry if I freaked you out.”

Benny’s head shook again and he turned to look up at Emmet. “Are you a merman too, Emmet?”

“Nope. I’m a half siren.” he said with a smile.

“We’ll have to reintroduce you to everyone else after this.” Rex said, pulling Benny’s attention back to himself. 

“_Re_introduce?” Benny questioned.

“It’s a long story, kid. But I promise you you’ll get all the details.”

“Okay. Okay, good.” Benny continued to shake his head, still not entirely believing what he was seeing. But he was smiling so the other two figured everything was fine. Then he let out a giddy little giggle. “Hey, weird question, but can I kiss you?”

Rex’s brows shot up and his expression turned to one of complete surprise. The request had come flying out of the blue. But then he gave a toothy grin and his ear fins flicked forward with interest as he leaned in slightly. “Making sure I’m still real?” he teased.

Benny rolled his eyes, but smiled wider. “That’s a good excuse. I’m still not entirely sure if my brain’s making this up. I can’t kiss an illusion, right?” 

With a chuckle he leaned the rest of the way in and the two shared a gentle kiss. After a moment Rex tangled a hand in the hair at the base of his neck and tugged him in deeper, causing Benny to gasp into the kiss. Instead of pulling away he melted into it, wrapping his arms around Rex’s neck and letting his eyes slip shut.

Emmet politely excused himself from the room after that, neither of the other two taking notice of his leave. Benny did, however, swear he heard a sing-song voice quietly informing him that “At least it’s not Summer yet.”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The merrow will all have small traits taken from the species they're based on. For instance, if it hasn't been caught onto yet, spawning seasons for certain fish have become merrow breeding seasons. So the cause of some of Bradley's hostility? Early spring is a black goby's spawning season and males tend to become aggressive during this time of year.
> 
> So when Emmet said it was a rough time of year for Bradley, he really did mean it.


	13. Chapter 13

Emmet hummed quietly as he wandered the house. He was the only one awake at the moment, but that didn’t bother him. He lived alone most of the time anyway. Not that he didn’t enjoy company when it was around, but it was a bit early either way. Besides, a quick peek into the bathroom told him his guests were just fine.

Rex had spent the night in the bathtub. He’d been in his shifted form for so long at a time that Emmet knew he’d probably hurt himself. Staying in the water and keeping in his true form was probably the best thing for him even if he’d end up sore from the cramped tub.

Benny had camped out on the floor beside the tub. Emmet had tried to get him to sleep on the couch where it would be more comfortable for him, but he’d been too tired and giddy to want to move. He’d settled for bringing the diver a pillow and a few blankets to at least make him a makeshift bed. But he knew a blanket wouldn’t stop the hard floor from being uncomfortable and had dug out a bottle of aspirin for the inevitable back pain Benny was sure to complain about once he woke up.

Having checked on the two and finding them alright, Emmet turned back toward the kitchen. He made himself some toast and sat down to eat quietly, glancing at a large potted plant nearby while he chewed. At first glance, and always to unknowing eyes, it was a simple houseplant. But to Emmet it was something much more than that.

“Morning, Planty.” he cooed while reaching out to gently stroke the fronds.

The greenery shook slightly beneath his fingers and he smiled as it rose up from the pot to reveal a small light brown colored creature. It looked a bit like an overly fat parsnip and was only about as tall as a coffee mug, but large black eyes that blinked up at Emmet and the soft almost purr it released said that it very much was not a vegetable. A stubby arm with root-like fingers reached up toward Emmet’s hand and patted against one of his fingers. Emmet had learned that that was a sign of affection from the creature.

“What’s that?”

He glanced up at Benny’s voice and found the diver staring at Planty with wide eyes. Emmet was glad to see curiosity in them and not fear or disgust. Benny had a hand held against his back while he stepped closer and Emmet slid the aspirin bottle across the table wordlessly.

“This is Planty.” he explained while Benny shook pills out of the bottle. “He’s a mandrake.”

After dry swallowing the pills and setting the bottle back down Benny seemed to gain some wariness. “I’ve heard of those actually. Don’t they, like, scream and kill people?”

Emmet chuckled softly. “Wild ones do, but not Planty. He’s domestic. The deadliness was bred out of these guys. He still screams sometimes, but that’s because he’s still pretty young. It won’t hurt you though. Just maybe give you a headache after a while.”

“Oh. Well that’s good to know.” Benny relaxed again and sat at the table with a small smile. “So I was wondering something. Why’d you guys decide to trust me with your secrets? I’m assuming you wouldn’t tell most people about what you really are, right?”

Emmet nodded and took his hand back when Planty yawned and buried himself back into his pot. “It’s not really that we just suddenly decided. You’ve actually met us before.”

“Is that why you said I’d need to be _re_introduced to everyone?”

“Yeah. Like Rex said, it’s a long story. But we do plan on filling you in with everything.”

“Why don’t I remember anything in the first place? What happened?”

“Well...” Emmet’s smile dipped. “One of our friends erased your memories up to a certain point so you’d never know that you saw any of us. Most of us thought you’d be fine knowing, but we got talked into needing to not trust you.”

“By who? Do I know them?” Benny was staring at the table instead of Emmet, brow furrowed in thought. Emmet hesitated to answer.

“Yeah, you know him. But it’s not that important! He also vouched for you and told us it was okay to let you know again!”

Benny hummed, his frown deepened, then he looked up at the other. “By chance... was it Bradley?”

Emmet’s brows rose in surprise. Then he chuckled, but there wasn’t any humor in it. “Um, yeah. Good guess.” A worried look took over his face then. “Please don’t be mad at him. He had a really good reason for not wanting us to trust you.”

“I’m not mad.” Benny sat back in his chair and sighed. He didn’t look mad and he didn’t sound mad which put Emmet at ease. If anything he did sound disappointed though. “I mean, it does explain his attitude toward me. What was his reasoning for wanting my memories wiped though? I’m curious.”

“That’s... That’s not my place to say. Sorry, Benny.”

Benny sighed again. “You think he’d tell me if I asked him?”

“I don’t know. It’s a sore subject for him. Maybe wait until he introduces you to his brothers. It might be easier then.”

“Wait. Bradley has brothers?” Benny looked surprised at the information. Emmet simply smiled and nodded at him. The diver opened his mouth to ask another question, but a set of hands coming down on his shoulders stopped him. He tipped his head back to look up at the other and grinned when a kiss was pressed to his forehead.

“Mornin’, you two.” Rex greeted fondly. “Sleep good?”

“Not at all.” Benny replied. “The floor sucks as a bed. Emmet gave me aspirin though so I’m good.”

“Next time maybe listen to him and go sleep on the couch.”

“Are you planning on there being a next time?”

One side of Rex’s lips quirked up in a lopsided grin. “You’re welcome to stay here as long as you’d like. Right, Em?”

Emmet’s smile widened and he bounced a bit in his seat with barely restrained glee. “I’d love it if you stayed, Benny! It’d be great to have company when Rex is out in the ocean!”

“It’d definitely be better than staying in the shop by myself.” Benny looked from Rex to Emmet and nodded. “I’ll talk to Sirius today and let him know I won’t need the room there after all.”

“Awesome!” Emmet cheered. “Now how about some breakfast before work? Gotta get your strength up!”

“Sounds great, thanks. I have a feeling I’m going to need it today.”

\---

Benny waved to Rex outside the jewelry store and watched the man walk back the way they came until he was a speck in the distance. Then he turned and, humming a chipper tune, stepped into the store. Strangely enough the lights were dimmed. He didn’t see either of the brothers anywhere. Had they left the door unlocked for him, but didn’t plan to open the store that day?

“Hello?” Benny called out. “Sirius? Risky? Anyone here?”

“In the back room, Benny!” he heard Risky call out. “Lock the door behind you if you would!”

The latch clicked to announce it was locked when Benny flipped it. He didn’t know why, but the sound made him shiver. It sounded so... final.

With a shrug he walked toward the back door and stepped through. It was just as dim in there and he wondered what the brothers were getting up to. “Hey, guys, did the power go out or something?”

“Oh, sorry about the dim lights.” Sirius apologized somewhere off to his left. “We were working on some light sensitive pieces and lost track of time. Give us a few minutes and we’ll get things put away.”

“No need to rush. As long as there’s no problems it’s all good.” Benny squinted toward where he’d heard Sirius. He could just make out the man’s shape moving about in the darkness. Risky was nearby him too and the two looked to be moving something around. After a short time whatever they’d been working on was shuffled away and a light came on, blinding Benny without warning and causing him to jerk his arms up to shield his eyes.

“Whoops! Sorry about that!” Risky laughed.

Slowly Benny’s arms came back down. “It’s fine. Just a little warning next time, please.” He blinked the spots out of his vision while watching Sirius pulling three chairs over, curiosity taking hold of him. “What’s going on?”

Instead of an answer, Sirius patted one of the chairs before sitting in another. “Have a seat, Benny. We’ve got some things to discuss.”

“What... Sorts of things?” Benny asked slowly.

“Oh, don’t worry. It’s nothing bad. We just need to test the waters with you, so to speak.” Risky said. He took another chair, flipped it around, and flopped down onto it. His arms rested on the chair’s backing and he leaned his chin against them with a smile. “Sit, sit.”

For a minute he stood still, glancing back and forth between the brothers. They both seemed to be in good moods. Maybe the underlying cautious feeling he was getting was just him being paranoid. Benny snagged a leg of the last chair around his ankle to pull it closer then sat down heavily. “So what sort of waters am I testing today?”

“Do you believe in mythical creatures, Benny?” Risky started off. 

“Uh.” He wasn’t sure where that had come from, but he knew he couldn’t let slip what he’d seen the night before. “I guess I’ve always thought that some of them could be real. When I was a kid I swore there was a little dragon living in my fish pond.”

Strangely enough both brothers’ eyes lit up when he said that. “There wouldn’t have happened to have been koi fish in that pond, by chance?” Sirius questioned. Before Benny could answer that, however, Risky reached out to swat at his brother.

“Exciting as that may be, that’s off topic.” Risky said. “It may seem like a strange question, Benny, but we have our reasons for asking.”

“And what are your reasons?” Benny asked with a raised brow. He leaned forward slightly in his seat, feigning interest. A nagging voice in the back of his head was telling him to be cautious.

The brothers shared a glance. A silent conversation passed between them in the span of seconds before they both turned to him again. It was Risky who asked the next question.

“We have reason to suspect that you’ve been in contact with mermaids.”

Benny’s heartbeat sped up and he narrowly held back a sharp breath. He couldn’t let on that he knew. He couldn’t let them know about Rex. “Mermaids?” he forced out in an almost scoff. “Guys, I know I’m a diver, but all I’ve seen down there are fish.”

“Ah, but that’s just what you _think_.”

“...what?”

“You see, Benny,” Risky scooted his chair forward and his easy smile widened. “That scale around your neck? The last time you came in here to talk to me it was black. Not white.”

Benny slowly grabbed the scale on the chain and frowned. He wracked his brain, but found nothing. “But it’s always been white. That’s what I remember.”

Risky nodded and sat up straight in his seat, smacking the back as if he’d just had a point proven. “Exactly! It’s what you _remember_. But it’s not true.” He pointed to the scale then. “It was black as coal before, but now it’s white. Why?”

He turned to glance at Sirius who suddenly picked up his brother’s train of thought. “You learned something you weren’t supposed to and they took your memories for it. That scale you had, as Risky told me, was one of theirs and playing it could bring them to you. That’s a powerful thing and they know it.”

“You guys are losing me.” Benny sighed. “So my scale changed color. Big deal? I mean, if you’re right and it was some sort of mermaid summoning thing then that would make a difference. But how do I even know you’re telling the truth?”

“Because I’ve got one that matched yours.” Risky announced. Carefully he reached into a pocket and pulled out a folded handkerchief, pulling back the folds to reveal a dark teardrop shape standing out against the white fabric. Benny leaned in closer, this time genuinely interested, and noted the gash across the object that almost split it in two.

“Well,” he said as he sat back, “mine was never broken like that, that’s for sure. Why would you keep a broken scale like that?”

Risky nodded with a hum. “You’re thinking it’s a useless piece of junk.” Benny said nothing, but the look in his eye gave him away. “But I see it as motivation. You see, Benny, Sirius and I were like you years ago. We found mermaids. Made friends with them even. But then they turned on us one day. They wanted to kill us so we fought back. Unfortunately there was some other creature that got into our heads and stole our memories.”

“Then how do you remember seeing mermaids at all?” Benny challenged.

Risky only chuckled. “The thing started with me, but had to switch to Sirius to avoid getting bludgeoned in the head.”

“I lost a lot more than Risky did.” Sirius spoke up. “He had to drag me away from the fight that broke out. If it wasn’t for him I don’t know what would have happened.”

“On our way out,” Risky continued, “one of the mermaids managed to catch up to us. A lot of their space is made of pools they can hop along to give chase. It tried to drag us into a pool, but I managed to get a good cut in with a knife I’d had with me. Warned the mermaid off and picked this up when it dropped off the creature.” He glanced down at the broken scale with a lopsided grin. “It’s my goal to hunt down this very same mermaid. And since you had a matching scale all I need is some cooperation.”

“Okay, so, question.” The voice in Benny’s head was quickly getting louder. “If it was that dangerous and mind wiping is a thing, why even look for them at all? Wouldn’t it be safer to leave them alone and stay far away?”

Both brothers shared a laugh. Benny found nothing funny.

“Do you know the biggest myth about mermaids, Benny?” Sirius asked. “About what they can do?”

Benny shook his head after a few seconds. “I didn’t know they did anything besides being fish people.”

“Oh yes.” Risky said. “They have a very special talent that can benefit us. It’s been Sirius and I’s obsession to catch these mermaids and utilize them for ourselves. And, if you help us find this mermaid, you’ll benefit as well. I have a feeling you’re just the sort that we need to finally reach our goal!”

This was beginning to take a turn for the creepy. “Not gonna lie, I’m a little creeped out right now. I have no idea what you’re talking about. What’s the myth? Why do you want to hunt down a mermaid? What’s their talent and what are you going to do if they’re real and you do catch one?”

Another shared look. Another silent conversation. Risky again spoke first.

“I can answer all of those questions at the same time. It’s simple, Benny. Mermaids give immortality to any being that eats their flesh.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the big reveal is finally out! 
> 
> Next time: the Business brothers get deadly, Benny goes for an unwanted swim, and we meet some new faces.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, two short fics and an update on this one all in one night. I'm on a streak.

“What the fuck?” Benny’s face curled in disgust and he leaned away from Risky in his chair. “You want to _eat_ a mermaid?”

Risky, unfazed by the outburst, nodded enthusiastically. “For immortality, Benny! Think of that!”

“No thanks, man. I’m out.”

Benny stood from his chair, but suddenly found the brothers doing the same and advancing on him quickly. His eyes flicked between the two rapidly and he stepped back, scooting the chair out of his way with his heel. They didn’t move to attack, but he knew at least Risky’s body language was tensing for a fight.

“We’re not going to hurt you, Benny.” Sirius spoke. “We just can’t let you leave.”

Benny frowned and began to subtly eye the spaces between the brothers for an escape route. “Look, I told you. I have no idea what help you think I can give you. I don’t know any mermaids.”

“Who’s been closest to you since the last time you came here?” Risky’s sudden question made the diver’s frown take on a confused edge. 

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“They could be mermaids in disguise. We’ve got ways of finding out if they are.” Risky grinned sharply. “If they’re human it won’t bother them at all so you don’t have to worry. We’re not crazy. Just determined.”

Benny couldn’t help the humorless laugh that escaped him. “I think if you mess with a guy in a wheelchair at all it’s gonna bother him.”

The brothers glanced at each other and Benny got the feeling that he’d said something wrong.

“The divers’ son then.” Sirius said.

“I’ll check him out.” Risky replied. “You check on the hot shot Benny came in with.”

Color drained from Benny’s face. If there really was a way to reveal a disguised merrow then Rex would be in danger. He had to warn him.

Benny tried to bolt while the two were facing each other, but quicker than he thought possible Risky had caught him. The man hadn’t even seemed to move before Benny found himself heading toward the floor at a too fast speed. 

The pain of the concrete meeting his skull didn’t even register before he was knocked out.

Oh but he felt it when he came back to consciousness. He was getting sick of being knocked out lately.

“Benny, Benny, Benny.” he heard Risky sing-song from above him. “I didn’t want it to come to this you know. We could’ve been great partners.”

The diver groaned, his head aching, and tried to move only to find himself tied up snug. Of course. Why did he think he’d wake up in any less than a bad predicament? That was becoming his normal. Oh, Risky was still talking.

“I mean if it turns out your friends are all human then we’ll have made a big mistake, but why else would you try to run from us like that? I think you know that one of them is a mermaid and you’re trying to hide it.”

Then the nervous voice of Sirius sounded somewhere nearby. “I still don’t like this, Risky. Couldn’t we just tie him up in the attic or something instead of... this?”

Benny didn’t like what that may have implied.

“Come on, Sirius. Think. Use that brain of yours.” Risky semi-snapped. “If he gets loose and warns those mermaids then what happens if they get a hold of you when we split up, hmm? It may not just be your memories they take this time. Mermaids eat humans too, Sirius.”

“I know, but... This is kind of too far, Risky. And I was starting to like him too...”

“So was I. But an enemy is an enemy and I’d rather see him dead than you.”

Benny _really_ didn’t like that. He tried to look around, but his vision was fuzzy and dark. On closer inspection he realized it was just dark around him. Night time. How long had he been out? He groaned again and squinted down at himself. His arms were tied behind his back and his legs were tied together at the ankles where a dark line lead off off them toward a mass of gray. Benny squinted at the object until it came into focus then he felt a spike of panic.

He’d been tied to a cinder block.

“Guys.” he croaked, wincing at his own voice. “Guys, don’t do this.”

Footsteps came closer, passed him by, and he watched in horror as Risky began nudging the cinder block closer to the edge of the boat Benny realized they were on. A boat in the middle of the ocean most likely. Where no one would find him.

“Sorry, Benny.” Risky said. “But we can’t have you ruining our careful plans.”

He watched the cinder block fall over the side and the rope attached to it quickly dove into the water. It played like slow motion as he watched the extra line disappear and he felt his heart stop. The last things he saw before being jerked overboard were Risky’s grin and Sirius’s regretful expression.

Cold salt water pulled over his head so fast he hardly had time for a last breath. Despite the sting he kept his eyes open, watching the light fade overhead. By the time he stopped moving, the cinderblock kicking up a plume of sand where it hit, his lungs were burning. He was terrified. He struggled against the ropes holding him even knowing that it would do no good. The longer he held onto that last breath the more his lungs burned until he couldn’t hold on any longer and opened his mouth to start drowning-

He breathed in salt water and his lungs thanked him for it.

If Benny’s eyes hadn’t already been wide they would have popped at that moment.

His brows furrowed as he took another breath and very much didn’t start to drown. He was breathing just fine as if he wasn’t currently underwater. Not that he wasn’t grateful, but he couldn’t understand how he was still alive. And he stayed that way for a long few minutes before a new sense of terror caught up to him. If he was still alive how was he going to stay that way tied up as he was? At some point any manner of creature could come by and decide to take a bite out of him.

A flash in the distance caught his attention and his head whipped up to stare. There, just far enough to be a blur, was a streak of color coming toward him. Bright white cutting through the dark water and as it came closer Benny could see light blue at the front of the creature. Then it slowed, just far enough he couldn’t make it out through the blur of salt water. Suddenly it zipped right up to him and he held his breath once more.

A very human face stared at him with just as much surprise as he must have been showing. A young woman with impossible bright blue hair, an iridescent shimmer through it, and heterochromia- one pink and one blue eye. Patches of color, the opposite to each eye, decorated her eyelids. Her skin was a strange shade of rose, but halfway down her stomach the color morphed to white- actual literal chalk white. And that wasn’t even the part that shocked Benny.

From her waist sprouted a fish tail. Chalk white with looping patterns of dark pink and teal all along the body and fins. A mermaid.

The two stared at each other for quite some time before the mermaid sprung into action. She zipped behind Benny and the ropes tightened slightly around his wrists before coming lose and falling away. His ankles were freed shortly after and he kicked to keep himself from sinking further. He didn’t stay there for long though as he felt arms wrap around his waist and suddenly he was being hauled away by the mermaid. He tried to get out of her grip, wanting now to get away to warn Rex and Bradley, but she held on tight.

He wasn’t sure what he’d expected to be taken to, but a castle half in and half out of water wasn’t it.

The two surfaced in what appeared to be a domed bubble and Benny was released to wade out of the water. He sat down on dry land and took a minute to try to understand why his lungs were just allowing a switch between water and air so easily. He couldn’t understand, of course, and gave up quickly before it made his brain hurt.

“So you’re human, right?”

The sudden voice made Benny jump. He looked around quickly before remembering his current company and turning toward the mermaid bobbing in the little submerged pool.

“What?” he asked.

“You’re a human, aren’t you?” she asked again. “How did you not drown? I’ve never seen a human stay under that long without a breathing tank.”

“Uh.”

“Giiirl, the boy got himself a mermaid’s kiss.” a new voice filtered into the room, sing-song with amusement.

Benny turned to look behind himself and got another surprise. Another young woman, though he got the sense that this one was older than he thought, was striding toward him. She wore a strange multi-colored dress that shifted with her movement in an oddly natural way and Benny found himself entranced. The colors were shifting in a hypnotic way and he found it so hard to look away from her.

The mermaid behind him cleared her throat and the colors froze on magenta while the woman laughed. “Sorry, honey! I just can’t resist the new cuttlefish patterns!”

Benny didn’t know what that meant. “Where am I?” he asked.

“Oh, you’re in my home now! I am Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi. And you’ve already met my girl Sweet over there.”

“Sweet Mayhem.” the mermaid introduced herself. “Pleased to meet you.”

“I’m, uh, I’m Benny.” the diver stated.

“It’s good to have you here, Benny.” the queen said with a smile. “Now I’m a bit of a sucker for gossip so come on boy, spill. Who gave you that kiss?”

He blinked and felt warmth in his cheeks. Sweet was a mermaid so it couldn’t hurt to tell them, right? “His... His name’s Rex.”

Watevra caught a squeal and Benny saw Sweet raise a brow. 

“Dangervest kissed you?” the mermaid questioned. “Of his own free will? Wow. I thought he was only attracted to his own reflection.” She was smiling not unkindly and Benny got the sense of sibling teasing. “Either way you’re lucky. Without that kiss you would’ve been dead right now. You should really thank him when you see him again.”

Suddenly the terror hit him hard. “I have to get back _now_ actually. He’s in danger.”

The two women tensed. “Danger?” Watevra asked. “What kind of danger?”

“There’re two guys looking for mermaids.” Benny explained. “They wanted me to help hunt them down, but it’s really messed up because they want to eat them. But they’re going after Rex and my other friends and I have to warn them!”

“Honey, I need to know exactly who it is going after your friends.” There wasn’t friendliness in the queen’s voice anymore, but Benny knew the sharpness wasn’t pointed at him. 

“Sirius and Risky Business.” he said.

Suddenly a shock wave of bright colors flashed across Watevra’s dress, Benny realizing then that it wasn’t an actual dress. The knowledge solidified as the ‘dress’ began to melt against her body and morphed into eight long tentacles as she slid into the water. “We need to go then.” she said with that same sharp voice. “I know that boy and, trust me, your friends are in real danger.”

“My queen, with all due respect, you can’t confront him. You’re deal bound.” Sweet spoke up. Her words, the meaning hidden on Benny, made Watevra scowl.

“I know, I know.” she sighed angrily. “But what do we do then? I can’t sit here knowing that monster’s going after someone. Even if I am bound by a deal I’ll figure something out.”

“Uh.” Benny felt lost. “Can you guys explain to me what’s going on? Preferably quickly? Gimme the short and sweet of it?”

The women turned to him and Sweet opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say a word there came the sound of a door being kicked open. “Sorry, everyone! I found those books you were looking for, ma’am!” 

Benny’s eyes widened. That voice was too familiar. He turned his head to look back and felt his jaw go slack. “You’ve _got_ to be kidding me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who do you think mystery person at the end there is? 
> 
> Mayhem's fish type is a mandarinfish.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally back with an update!
> 
> This chapter gets a bit violent toward the end so beware of that.

Sirius stared at the water where Benny had disappeared with a twisted expression. He and Risky had never gone so far.

“Was there really no other choice?” he asked aloud. A heavy sigh and a hand clapped on his shoulder was his reply.

“I’m sorry, Sirius. Really. But it couldn’t be helped.” Risky said. “And, unfortunately, what’s done is done.”

Sirius nodded slowly, eyes still glued to the water. “I just...” He sighed and ran a hand down one side of his face. He felt so tired all of a sudden. His eyes closed and he turned his back on the ocean. “I just hope this wasn’t in vain.”

\---

The sun had risen by the time the two made it back to their shop.

“Are you sure you want to go after that one? I’m sure the divers’ son would be easier for you to handle.” Risky fixed his brother with a small grin as if teasing the younger man. 

Sirius scoffed as he picked up one of the two bottles laid out on the work bench in front of them. He screwed the cap on tightly and raised it to his head, tapping his temple with the bottle. “Don’t be too sure. My target hasn’t had practice getting around without legs.”

“That you know of.”

“That I know of.”

Risky picked up the second bottle while the two shared a laugh. “Well then. Happy hunting, brother. Let’s hope for success.”

\---

The little house wasn’t what he’d been expecting. It was too simple. Too normal. Nothing like what he’d imagined a hiding merrow’s den to be.

Wouldn’t that have made more sense though?

Shaking his head to clear the thought, Sirius stood and frowned at the door. How to approach had been his biggest question so far. He knew what to do once he confronted his target, but actually getting to the man was proving harder to figure out. Should he kick the door in dramatically and run in with a yell? Or try to sneak through a window for a stealthier approach? He had to do things right.

Sadly he didn’t get the chance to figure things out on his own as the door swung open in front of him. He jumped at the movement and, without thinking, quickly pulled the bottle from the workbench from its holster on his belt and slung the potion inside at the young man standing in the doorway.

Except he’d forgotten to loosen the cap first so all that happened was the young man flinching as the bottle was stabbed toward his face.

Neither of them moved for a long stretch afterword.

“Uh.” The man in the doorway looked concerned. “Can I... help you?”

Sirius felt his face heat in embarrassment. To top it off he realized that this wasn’t even his intended target. He pulled the bottle to his chest and looked away, fumbling for a way out now. “Sorry. I, uh. I thought someone else lived here.”

The other raised a brow slowly and looked slightly more concerned. He glanced to the right then to the left, almost conspiratorially, then looked back to Sirius. “You’re looking for Rex.” Not a question. Not wrong either.

“I think so.” Sirius replied.

“He’s not here right now.”

“Oh.” So he’d embarrassed himself for nothing.

“But...” The young man glanced behind himself into the house with a frown. “You... You can come in if you’d like? Rex should be back... sometime?”

Sirius perked up at that. Maybe he could salvage his dignity after all. “That would be nice, thank you.”

He waited for the other to step aside then entered the house, intent on waiting out his prey.

\---

Risky observed the house from a distance. There was nothing outwardly special about it. Certainly nothing that gave away the presence of a merrow within. But he knew there was one there. Benny’s friend was most definitely a merrow in disguise.

No vehicle sat in the driveway so he figured the divers were out on business again. What good timing. He wasn’t above fighting the older couple, but the faster he could retrieve his target the better.

By the time he walked up to the door his hands were itching. He held the bottled potion in one, the cap already off, and reached for the doorknob with his free hand. It gave no resistance as he slowly turned it and he grinned. Unlocked.

Not a sound was made as the door pushed open and the same went for when Risky closed it behind him. He listened carefully, standing stone still there just inside the doorway.

After a moment he caught the faintest sound of wheels gliding across a wooden floor deeper in the house.

He moved in the opposite direction and entered the kitchen. There he picked up the first item that caught his eye on the counter: a coffee mug. He took a moment to examine it quietly. Plain white with a picture of a cartoon whale smiling on one side and a font like child’s writing reading ‘I whale always love you’ written on the other side.

Cute.

With a quick snap of his wrist Risky sent the mug toward the floor, shattering it on impact.

Nothing happened for a beat then a sudden bang announced a door being thrown open. Risky stood grinning as he waited for his prey to come to him and readied the bottle in his hand. The instant he caught sight of that familiar face he slung it forward, watching the potion inside arc from its container to splash across Bradley’s face.

“Shit!” Bradley yelled. His hands flew to his face where they scrubbed at the liquid, his eyes clamped shut against it, and his wheelchair continued to roll forward from the speed he’d gained getting into the room. 

Risky’s grin stretched wider as he watched a glimmer ripple across the other’s skin- the potion reacting to merrow flesh. “I knew it!” he crowed. 

The sound of his voice caused Bradley to pause for a split second. Then his lip peeled back from his teeth, razor sharp and entirely inhuman. _“Business!”_ he spat. He practically clawed the liquid from his eyes then, snapping them open to glare daggers at his attacker.

With a snarl he threw himself toward the man.

Risky dodged at the last second and swiped his hand out to snag the blanket laying over Bradley’s lap. A cackle filled the air the moment that tail was put on display. He could almost taste the merrow’s flesh already.

“Surprising you don’t actually use a glamour!” he called out as he danced away from another charge.

Bradley snarled in reply and tugged off his gloves, claws out and ready. 

Risky didn’t intend on letting the fight drag on though.

The next time the merrow came at him he met the charge head on and caught Bradley by surprise. With a strength the man wasn’t expecting Risky grabbed him by the arms and bodily dragged him from his chair, throwing him to the ground and kicking his chair to the other end of the room. Bradley pulled himself to his arms and backed up, baring his teeth in a hiss as Risky stepped closer. 

Risky put on a wicked grin and suddenly spoke. “I killed Benny.”

All at once Bradley froze. It was as if the air had been punched out of him.

“He was going to warn you about me.” Risky continued. “So I had to kill him.”

He watched the merrow’s eyes, widened in disbelief, sink toward the floor as he tried to process that. Bradley didn’t move as Risky slowly stepped closer. It made the man chuckle. 

When the telltale _shing_ of a knife sliding from its sheath rang too close Bradley did move, but nowhere near fast enough. Risky had already gotten too close.

Bradley made a choked sound, the air leaving him in a sharp rush, and he froze again as the blade punched through his side. Risky’s cruel grin was too close to his face. It was all he could see. 

“Don’t worry.” Risky cooed with a false sweetness. “You’ll see Benny again real soon. And then.” His hand twisted and Bradley let out another sharp sound, slumping to the ground in an instant. Risky took his knife back, wiping the blood on Bradley’s coat, and watched the red begin to spread beneath that long tail.

“Then I’ll make sure your brothers join you.”


End file.
